Dragon Ball All Together
by Mizar31
Summary: Ten years have passed since Goku left with Shenron and the Dragon Balls. Those years had been a period of peace for the Saiyans and their families. But then, one evening, Pan suddenly disappears...
1. Chapter 1

Author´s Note and Disclaimer: I wrote this story years ago; in German language; and I also posted it in the Internet (site: Dragonball Fanfictions DBZ Another dimension, pen name Rattale.) So this story is not entirely new, I translated my German work into English and while doing so I "looked through" some details. It is not "hot out of the press" now, so it might be a little bit different to the German version. I tried to take the challenge to change the language – just for fun.

As ever: Most of the Characters I used do not belong to me. They were invented and by Akira Toryama, and belong to the Dragon Ball Universe. The only Characters that are mine, are those that I added. I do not want to make money with that story, it is just the joy of writing.

PS: If you do not like the pairings I chose, please feel free to stop reading (smile) If you are interested in the story, keep on… (double smile)

Prologue

This story is set **ten** years after the events shown in Dragon Ball GT. (PLEASE NOTE: I did NOT respect the end of the last episode – _Until we meet again_. For this story the end would be, as all start to go home after Shenron took Goku with him.) We´ve got the year 799 and the life of the remaining Saiyans had changed a lot. It´s been a long period of peace now, maybe that´s because the Dragon Balls are gone – maybe not, we´ll never know for sure; but it seems as if Shenron kept his promise, which was that the earth will see a peaceful time. The memory of Son Goku still lives in his relatives, and there had been no new enemies for the Saiyans. The only once who do fight sometimes are Vegeta and Pan, who both are participating at every Fight tournament, just for fun.

The "old", well known couples are of course still part of the game.

Bulma, who finally retired as boss of the Capsule Corporation and Vegeta still live together. Bulmas hair is grey now, and also Vegeta, the Prince of the Sayans, has some grey parts in his hair, but he keeps on dying it pitch black. Bulma and Vegeta are grandparents since three years, and therefore they use to keep an eye on their twin grandchilds.

Those two children were born to Bulla, who is 23 (_Authors interruption, sorry for that, I assume Bulla is about three years older than Pan_) and her husband Shane, who´s a black haired man and pilot for an airline. Bulla is working at the Capsule Corporation, she´s become vice President and specialized for the publicity-department and public-relations work.

The Twins are three years old now; the boy has been named "little" Vegeta for the honor of his grandfather, and he´s the one in the family that really looks a lot like the Prince of the Saiyans, also his temper is that way. His sister Kaya looks a lot like Bulla, and does not seem to be very interested in fighting.

Trunks, aged 34, is the chief president of the Capsule Coorporation since six years now, he took over the job when his mother retired. In addition to that he concentrates on the branch of research, invention and development. He and his sister Bulla had been able to rise Capsule Corp. to one of the three top firms of the world. He´s married since one year.

Son Goten, 33, also works as a pilot, but for the Capsule Corp. itself. For seven years now he had been flying planes to and fro, all around the globe. He´s married to Valese since nine years and they have eight-and-half years old daughter called Merve, and a small, one year old son called "little" Goku. They all live in a big rich-mans-house in Valeses home town by the sea, therefore Goten is only in the Western capital when he has a job to do.

Pan, 20, had finally taken over the job of her grandfather Mr. Satan, as he wished her to do when he retired one year ago. She is the mayor of the city and all people like her, before she took the job there was a great election and she got almost 100% of the votes on her side. Sometimes she thinks that the job is exhausting, but she had started to like being mayor. Besides that, she still loves fighting and goes to the training whenever she´s got time, and she participates at every big Tenkaichi Budokai fight tournament. She´s married since one year.

Son Gohan and Videl are both working as scientists for the university and got a second child, a nine year old boy called Urian. He´s the first boy born to the family after Gokus departure, but for Videls whish he bears the name of her own Grandfather. Urian does definitely not like fighting, his love lies in maths and physics. Therefore Gohan and Videl decided that he should visit a superior-school in the hometown of Goten and Valese.

Chichi lives at Gohans and Videls house, she´s concentrating her strength in cooking or keeping the house clean, now and then she visits Goten and Valese, and keeps an eye on her younger grandchildren, Urian, Merve and little Goku.

**_Chapter One: Pans Day_**

Pan was, with her only twenty years of age, known as the youngest mayor ever. Nevertheless the people liked her and every morning she had to check and answer a few fan mails. Now it was late. She´d been in the bureau for the whole day. It was not a cruel place; she liked it, since she had refurbished it a little bit, but it was some kind of exhausting to be at the same place all day long. She was a good mayor and the western capital – renamed to Satan City years ago – was an excellent place to live in.

But right now, as dusk started, she was longing for a round of sports; jogging maybe, or some soft training at the gym. So she concentrated on her work once more, there still were some reports of the City Consultants to read though. But, as most times, everything was fine, so she could leave the bureau about two hours earlier on that Friday night. She sighed. The biggest problem in her period had been the breakdown of three trash-collecting-robots about half a year ago, but this problem was quickly solved, she only organized some money and bought a whole new fleet of trash-robots at the Capsule Corporation.

She stretched herself. It´s been a nice, hot summer day and it was still warm enough to go to the pool in the gym, maybe this would really be the perfect ending for the day. Therefore she called her secretary via comlink and said: »Miss Perkins, I´ll close the bureau for today. Send all the folks home, they can finish their work on Monday. I won´t need a driver, I want to run to the gym by foot.«

»Yes, Mrs Pan.« the secretary answered.

When Pan left her privat office about fifteen minutes later, most of her workers were still there, no one left without getting the current page or letter ready. They liked working for Pan, so they all gave their best. She bid them good night and a nice weekend, and left. Although she looked good in her light-grey business clothes, she changed her outfit in the dressing room. Now she was wearing a good, sport gown, and running shoes. She fixed her shoulder-long hair with a hairclip and took her gym-bag out of the car she usually used.

Then she started off to the gym at a medium speed run, saying: »Good bye, nice evening.« to the porter, then she was at the street. The porter, a man with a big mustache, looked after her, smiling, until she was no more to see.

Pan kept on running down the street. Her favorite gym was about two miles away, but that was no problem. Since she was on foot, she would simply cross the park and spare some blocks by doing so. And because she´ll be running the whole way, she won´t need additional warm-up, and could start with one hour of fight-training at once. After that she planned to go swimming. Slowly her body became used to the speed, and she could breathe more easily. After a long day in the chair she always felt like a stick for the first one, two hundred steps.

Suddenly, a black car was catching up from behind, and slowed down besides her. The person at the back seat let down the window for an inch or so, and in the first moment Pan thought that the man was up to offer her a taxi.

»Thanks, I keep on running. I am almost there, I take the shortcut through the park.« she said, ere the person in the car could say a word.

»Ms Pan?« a voice asked from the car.

»_Mrs _Pan, if you please.« she replied. »If you want to speak to me in my function as mayor, please call my office and make a term. I will listen to you in my bureau, this is a promise. But now… please… farewell… _oh_.« It was this moment, when she noticed, that something was clearly wrong. All other people round her, all the cars, even the wind and a bird in the sky had stopped moving, as if they were frozen. »What…« she stuttered.

But there was no answer. The hind door of the car blasted open, and a strong hand pulled her inside the car. She was so surprised about this supernatural strength, that she was almost helpless for a moment, and that was one moment too long. The bag bearing her gym clothes slipped off her shoulder and dashed on the edge of the sidewalk, then the door of the car crashed back into the lock. The car accelerated very fast, and in this very moment the life returned to the people and vehicles. They moved on as if nothing had happened. Pans bag remained lonely at the sidewalk.

:-:

The day had been very long. It was dark outside when Trunks leaved the laboratory. Since two months almost every working day kept him busy from early morning into late night. Yawning, he took off the white lab-coat and put it into his locker. With an usual move of his finger he pushed his glasses back in the right position. Although it was very late he still had the papers with him, which showed the construction plan of a new space-ship-prototype. The wires in this spacecraft were special, they were constructed from artificial nerves and followed the orders of the pilot much faster than the usual lines. Now the space-ship had gone into it´s second test phase, and they´d probably start a space flight next month. Trunks was very content with the work of his people and signed the files for the inspection.

He looked down at his watch and sighed. It was almost half past ten pm, and he suddenly tried to hurry to get to the car. He´d been at home late for a lot of times now, and every single time he had promised to call if it would be late again, but, as ever, also this time he had forgotten to do so.

The driver smiled at him through the mirror, when he heard that his boss was yawning again. »Long day again.« he said. »What´s your wife gonna say?«

»I fear the worst.« Trunks replied. »But it might be better if we´d stop somewhere, so that I can buy her a couple of flowers.« he took off the glasses and rubbed his weary eyes. »Do you know a flower shop nearby?«

»Yes, I do.« the driver said.

A few minutes later they arrived at the house. It was all dark and Trunks expected a more-than-worse situation. He took a deep breath ere he used the key, but when he opened the door, it was still quiet. There was no Pan waiting for him, being tempered like a thunderstorm, or jumping out of some hideout to knock him down.

»Pan, you here?« Trunks asked.

He looked in the kitchen, where the housekeeper had prepared two meals. The candles were not lit and both menus were cold. For the next few minutes he kept on searching for his wife, but could not find her anywhere in the house. Maybe she had felt lonely and visited her parents or parents in law. Or she was out because she was mad at him.

He put his meal in the microwave, and sat down to watch TV. But she did not return, and time kept moving on. It was way past midnight and he had eaten the second dish too, when it started to get strange. She did not call, there was no note, and there was no sign on the calendar that she had a long meeting today. She must be angry at him.

So he decided to call her to apologize. He took the phone with him upstairs, sat down at the bed and tried to figure out where Pan could be. Maybe it was all not that worse, and she was only at Bulla´s house, because Bulla had asked for help with the twins.

Little Vegeta and Kaya could be difficult, although they were only Quarter-Sayans, and as soon as Shane, their father, was not at home, they tried their best to be a pack of nerve racking fleas. They did not mean it serious, but they loved fun, and sometimes got too far with that. So he dialed Bullas number at first. It needed a lot of ringtones, until she answered.

»What´s it, Trunks, why are you calling?« her voice was sleepy. »Its way past midnight and the kids are finally sleeping. Can´t you wait until tomorrow to tell me about the space-ship? I got the promo for that thing ready, all right?«

»No, stop it.« Trunks interrupted his sister. »Would you please tell Pan that I am sorry, I really should have called, that it´s going to be late.«

Bulla sighed: »Oh no, you´ve been home late again? You shouldn´t do that, brother. But Pan is not here. If you were fighting, she´s at her parents for sure.«

»We did not fight, nor argue.« Trunks replied. »But I´ll try.« he hung up.

A few minutes later he called his parents-in-law. He and Gohan still were on very good terms; totally different from Shane and Vegeta. Shane had once, when Bulla told him that she was pregnant, dared to call Vegeta _grandpa_. That has been a big fault and he never did it again. The phone was still ringing.

Gohan sounded as sleepy as one could be: »No pizza for me, thank you, you must have misdialed.« It was clear that he had not listened to one word Trunks had said.

»No, wait, please let me talk to Pan!«

Videl took the call and said with calm voice: »Pan is not here. If it is possible, we´d like to sleep now, Trunks? Sort out your things by your own. You´re both old enough.« She hang up.

Okay, now it started to get strange. When Trunks called his own parents, no one answered, and after one ringing tone the line was blocked. It was very likely that Vegeta hat pulled out the phone wire, because he felt disturbed. But this funny thought did not help against the strange, a little bit intimidating feeling. But what should happen to Pan? She could fight for herself.

But no… Trunks tried to call everyone who might have met his wife. At the gym they told him, that she had not been there this evening. At the mayors office the porter told him, that she had left at the beginning of dawn. She was not in the cinema or in a pub with friends from the gym, she apparently had disappeared.

To much awake to sleep now, Trunks decided to walk around to look out for her himself. Maybe he could find a trace… He flew to the mayors office and asked the porter again. The man showed him a surveillance video that proved, that Pan left the office building that late afternoon. Trunks followed the direction to the gym. But when he was there, the night-shift-agent at the counter proved that Pans Center-ID was not used this evening. She had never reached the gym. What could have happened? Pan was a good fighter. She would overcome anyone who attacked her. Trunks turned back took a little bit different route back to the mayors office and… suddenly he stopped.

There was a drunken man, leaning at a brick wall in a small side street. In his right hand he had a bottle of gin, in the other hand he carried a sports bag, that could be Pans. It had the Capsule Corp. Logo at the side.

»Where have you got that from?« Trunks asked the drunken man.

The man replied: »No it was not wanted anymore. Was on the sidewalk, right down the street. You want it? I sell. Gimme money. In theres only womens clothes, I do not need. Gimme money, I give you bag.«

Trunks handed over a handfull of paper money, he never cared how much it was. The drunken man dropped the bag and went off to the next open alcohol-store.

Trunks looked inside the bag, and it definitely was Pans. He could smell the same perfume she used in the bathroom this morning, and he knew her sports outfit. This was bad. To take a shortcut, he jumped in the air and flew to the house of his parents. Maybe it has been Pan who had broken the phone line, because she already knew that he was searching for her. This was the last chance, if this was true, maybe all would be good.

He reached his parents house and pushed the door bell so long, until his father Vegeta opened the door

Vegeta was infuriated and yelled: »Who is it that has the urgent wish to die! How often have I told you, not to disturb us in the night, you damned postman…« he growled and said then: »Oh, it is you, son. What are you doing round here so late? Escaping your wife?«

»No, definitely not, she´s not at home. Tell me, dad, is she here?«

»No. Why should she?« The worried look at the face of his son calmed Vegeta down, and he opened the door a little wider. »Come in. Lets talk inside.«

Bulma was also awake, and looked curiously at her son. »What is it, Trunks?«

He told them: »I am searching for Pan. She is nowhere… the only thing that I got is her gym-bag, and that was with a drunken man near the gym.«

Everyone in the room was silent now. No one thought that Pan was so childish to play such an appalling joke. Something bad must have happened. They all knew, that they definitely won´t get some sleep anymore in this night.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Welcome to Planet Senicar

When Pan woke up, her head was aching, as if she had a hangover. But that wasn´t the cause, of course not. She was in a bed that she did not know, in a surrounding that she did not like. Above her she could see a dome shaped roof made of transparent material, and the floor of the room was also round.

Outside the big roof-window she could see lilac clouds of gas that were floating through a reddish sky. Or was it really some sort of sky? Probably not, because all around the cupola the atmosphere looked dense, as thick fog, but everything was lilac and reddish. That was definitely not the earth. She jumped out of the bed and took a closer look out of the window. A strong wind was blowing, and this wind ripped the clouds and the fog away from time to time, and at that chances she could see the real surface of the planet, it was a brownish, rocky floor without any sign of life.

What kind of place was this? It looked like a hemispherical house, the room where she now was, was the topmost. In the middle of the sleeping chamber a spiral staircase went down to the other floors. _Who in the world would build a house on such an unfriendly planet? Who the heck wants to live here?_ She started off to the staircase when she noticed, that she had no shoes at her feet. Who had dared to touch her to get her shoes off! Infuriated she ran down one floor and found herself in a kind of big living room, but she did not linger long, but started off another floor down and saw a completely furbished kitchen at the one side of the round room, a big table and a pair of chairs at the other side. One part of the round room was separated with round walls made of steel, where one could not see through, behind those here was the bathroom. There were carpets on the floor and if there would not be this strange feeling, it would have been a really nice house.

Nice house, nice house! Ha! There was no exit-door and no window. This was no house, this was a prison.

»Where am I!« Pan yelled, not really expecting an answer, because she was all alone.

But to her surprise, there was an answer: »I see that you are awake.« It was a male, slightly sharp voice she did not know.

Pan demanded: »Show yourself, moron! Why did you take me here? Have you dared to watch me while I was unconscious?«

»Yes, I kept an eye on you, because you are very valuable for me.« the male voice replied. »I need you, and I think that everything will be clear to you when we meet.«

Pan hissed: »As soon as you show up here you will get my "thank you".«

»Don´t even try, little Saiyan-girl.« with these words an invisible door in the floor at the foot of the staircase opened itself, and Pan jumped back upwards two stairs. She could see into another floor now, which must be under earth and was a big laboratory. A person approached the stairs from below, but did not use the staircase. With a smooth moving he hovered upstairs and resealed the door in the floor.

Pan was not afraid because that man was not a human being. She had seen many "aliens" in her life and so she did not wonder much about his slightly greenish skin, and the pointed ears. He had silver hair and wore a small, pointed beard at the chin. His figure was almost human, with one exception, he had six fingers at each hand. He wore a red toga with a golden belt and a pair of black trousers.

If you´d only look at him like this he might have been a rather normal person, not completely ugly and not really attractive. But it was the look in his eyes that made Pan shiver and she lost her concentration. The Ki-Shot in her right hand went dim, and then out.

»So you seem to realize, that an attack like this won´t help you.« the man said with calm voice, but his undertone was vicious. »And I am sure that you know me, deep inside. But, to keep on friendly manners, we should say _Hello_ to each other first, and then I´ll tell you, who I am.« He smiled. »Hello.«

Pan growled: »I am not interested in who you are. Let me go or taste that.« Now she made another energy ball and shot it at her enemy. He caught it with his hand and absorbed it.

»If I were you, I would not start a fight here.« he said, still smiling. »I think you have noticed the atmosphere of this planet? It is full of poisonous gases, a big quantum of it being arsenic, but the others also are not very nice to human-like beings. One small crack in this cupola and you´ll die, and also if you try to flee… you won´t get far. At your first breath outside, the poison would melt your lungs. So please stop throwing around with Ki balls, they are no use anyway.«

Pan was still not defeated, with a yell she started to attack the stranger with her usual Tenkaichi Budokai moves. »I won´t let you keep me here. I am sure you have some Space-Ship down there. I…«

»No Space-Ship. Instant transmission. A technique I learned from your grandfather, when we last met. There is no chance for you to leave. You see, I know all of you.« He sighed. »Let us go upstairs to the living room. It is much better to sit down than to stand here. Then I will explain everything. Go on, upstairs, and sit down.«

Pan answered: »I´ll never do anything you order me to do. If I want, I´ll stand here forever. I am not interested in anything you want to tell me. There is only one thing you can do for me: I want to go back home.«

»I said we go upstairs.« the man answered and with a quick move he touched her forehead. He was so fast as if he could also move with light speed. Within an instant Pans knees gave in and she would have toppled over, but he caught her and within another instant she was placed in an upholstered chair in this living-room. There was a glass table in the middle between two chairs and a bigger sofa, opposite the sofa there was a big flat screen TV.

Pans legs still did not work, and for an instant she panicked: »What have you done to me! That is unfair!«

»Your legs are only temporarily paralyzed. But now you will listen.« He also sat down, at the opposite chair. »I am not a stranger to you. But it has been a long time, and the circumstances were a little bit different then. But now everything has changed. I had ten years to prepare this. I have learned not to rush in and to hurry. My plans are better now. I will do something that will be the very best for me, and the very worst for you… for all of you.«

_He must be kidding. Or he is totally mad_. Pan thought, but she remained silent. Her legs still felt as if they were not there at all. What had he done to her! And how had he influenced her brain? Had he devastating telepathic abilities? What else could he do?

»I used a lot of energy, and bodies, and experiments to gather my old strength. Your grandfather, Goku, took almost my whole life-energy from me, when he aimed his last attack on me. Finally I found a race of aliens, who´s telepathic abilities are tremendous, and who had bodies I rather liked. So I chose to take the body of this male Feruccian. Therefore I can now use the Instant Transmission, and I can affect your body without being in it or placing one of my eggs in you. You are still Pan, and you have to stay yourself. But always remember, if you do something I do not like, I can paralyze your whole body, or make you do what I want. Like a puppeteer. This would be rather boring, but I´ll do it, if I do not get what I want.«

Now Pan asked: »Would you please stop talking in riddles like a madman, and tell me the truth right away? I can see it on your face that you are burning to do so.«

The man smiled: »Oh, yes, I can´t wait to see the look in your eyes when I reveal the truth to you. Well, you know me. I am the heir of the Tsufurian race, the resurrected creature you called Baby. A bad name, by the way, I do not like it, because I am definitely not the same weak creature anymore. I chose to call myself Furyon now.«

»You!« Pan gasped. »But grandfather shot you directly into the sun, how could you survive and be here, now?«

»Yes he did, but there was a live-boat at the space ship. I could not reach it in time, but my right hand was chopped off by the doors and fell inside. As you might remember I only need one cell to recreate again, and after a while I found a planet to consume. And since then I have been waiting for revenge.«

Pan protested: »But my family will defeat you again. They know you know and they know that you slip into bodies. They know how to drive you out again. You can´t win.« Sie smiled, because she knew that she was right.

The mutant Furyon answered: »Yes, I know that, little Saiyan-Girl. But it is not my main goal now to possess someone´s body, like I do with the body of this Ferrucian. I know that there are ways to drive me out and weaken me. No, my new wish is it to fuse with someone, in a way so that my genes; my strength and everything that I am, is really a fix and definite part of the body. _One half,_ to be exact. But for the other half I need a perfect genetic material. Only in that way my heir, my son, will be undefeatable. I might be weak in some way, but he won´t be. And he will rule.«

Pan asked loudly: »And why do you need me? I do not understand. Between all your craziness you _must_ be able to give one straight answer.«

»I need you to give me the second part of my heir´s genes. With your Saiyan Strenghth and my Tsufurian Abilities he will be the ruler of the universe. I also could have taken Bulla, but she´s not the grandchild of Goku. And Goku was in fact the stronger one.« he laughed out loud. »I will create a whole new race, the strongest warrior, the universe has ever seen. The dreams of the past will come true.« Now his laugh was really mad.

The young woman did not laugh, she was pale as a bed sheet, and gasped for air. This was a mad plan. And worst of all this guy wanted to use her body. _Yargh! Never!_

This moment she could feel her legs again, and used the second to attack the madman again. She kicked him out of the chair and across the half room, hit him, smashed him and once tried to throttle him, but he kept on smiling, as if he still had some surprise in his pocket.

So she jumped back and ran downstairs, to the kitchen room, which was on equal height as the surface of the planet. »I definitely won´t wait here to see what you´ve got in mind!« she said. »I´d prefer to have a walk outside, rather than to share any more second with you.«

Furyon came down the stairs with slow steps and opened the hidden door again: »You won´t do that, Pan, I am sure that you want to live. And I promise you, that you can go as soon as I have my heir.«

»Oh, wow, very friendly.« she replied. »You´ll see. Wait who will be laughing in the end. You won´t get anything from me and don´t even try to touch me. I´ll get out of here.«

The mutant laughed again and went downstairs, closing the door behind him. There was no switch or remote control for that door, he must have the key directly with him.

Pan sat down on a kitchen chair and looked round. She was angry beyond measure, and growled with clenched fists. Nevertheless, her fighting abilities and her defiance would not help her here. At least not without a little bit of thinking. What did he say? He wanted her for… making is heir? _Double yargh_! Being the mother of such a creature was the least thing she wanted, and not to think about how he planned to… plant some eggs in her body? _Triple yargh! Do not even try. I warn you_.

But there was one thing she believed him without doubt. The atmosphere of the planet was poisonous, very poisonous. So she had to get away from here without getting in contact with those gases. She started to look around in this room. Since she could remember she knew Bulma, also Bulma´s parents, and Trunks, of course. Slowly she looked at all kitchen equipment and her gaze lingered for a longer time at the big fridge. It was a really big fridge with a tight closing door, and next to it there was the kitchen oven, which burnt with nice, light-blue flames. This idea was suicidal, and she tried to push it away, but something about the fridge and the gas-powered oven had put a hook in her mind.

She stood up and went to the big propane-gas-bottle that supported the oven. Maybe there was another one somewhere round. Two gas filled, big bottles, a fridge, and some sort of oxygen resource? Somehow this house must have an oxygen source… Hm. Gas, and a nice, Kame-Hame-Ha? Would that be enough to get her off this planet? And would the fridge be strong enough to withstand the pressure and everything? But… the door opened again.

The cruel mutant Furyon reappeared and asked: »Do you want to join me upstairs? I got a nice TV program, which you might like. It would be a pleasure to have you at my side.«

Pan yelled at him: »And do you think what would be a pleasure for me?! I do not want to be in the same room as you, not even in the same dimension!«

»Well, then, as you please. Then I´ll be upstairs, watching the pictures my cameras send from earth. I am interested in how your family tries to find you. It must be a desperate try.«

The young Saiyan got so angry that energy started to concentrate in her hands, but she suppressed it and yelled: »You´ll be very sorry if you have done anything to my family!«

»If you want to know, come and see.« he said with a mocking voice. »It is your choice. Maybe you think it is better, just to sit here and only imagine, what happened on earth. Maybe you do not know _how_ worse it really is? Maybe I had to kill one or two of them to show that I mean it serious? Or maybe they´re fine? I do not care. _I_ know what I have done, and, I am going to see what they do now.« He went upstairs.

Pan sat down on the kitchen floor, really close to cry now. She did not remember later, how long she sat there, but then, all for a sudden, she had the urgent need for the bathroom; the whole situation must have made her sick. When she returned to the kitchen, she looked again at the big fridge, then she decided to go upstairs.

»I knew you´d come.« the Tsufurian said, smiling, and pointed to the second upholstered chair. Slowly she sat down and watched the scenes on TV.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The thing in the bed **

Hours had passed, now it was one pm and the sun was shining bright. Everyone was at Bulmas and Vegetas home, because they had the biggest house, where everyone could find a guest-room to stay, even for a longer time, if needed.

They had called for Goten who had been on a freight-flight to the other side of the world, and he promised to return as soon as possible. Valese, his wife, was already with the rest of the family and sat in the living room, holding her little son Goku. As soon she had heard, what had happened, she had picked up her nephew Urian and her daughter Merve from school and ordered her private pilot to take them here, and she had begged her rich father to pay some private detectives who also should participate in the search for Pan. At this moment the detectives were talking to everyone who worked, lived or passed through the quarter of the town where Pan had disappeared. All family members hoped, that the detectives could find something, and they planned to talk to witnesses personally – if there were witnesses.

Merve, Valeses and Gotens daughter, was playing with Urian in the room nearby, the kids all also knew what had happened, and they did not want to disturb the grown-ups, because they noticed very well how worried they were.

Shane, Bullas husband, had also arrived with his wife and children and he had the plan to print a lot of leaflets and spread them all over the city, using his own little plane.

They had called the police too, but following the law they could only start a great search if the missing person was lost for two days; even if it was the mayor, but no one of the family wanted to wait that long. They had to do something by themselves.

Pans parents, Gohan and Videl, were worried beyond measure, they knew her daughter very well. She could be stubborn sometimes, and when she was a teenager there had been hours in which she had locked herself in her room and talked to nobody, but running off like that did not fit her anymore. Pan had grown up and she knew that everyone would be scared if she disappeared like that, only because she was mad at something. Grandpa Satan was the one who cried loudest; one moment he swore to all villains and evildoers in the world that he will not stop until he himself had found his granddaughter, the next moment he started sobbing in despair, and Chichi, who still was a very resolute woman, had a lot to do to keep him under control, but she also was close to cry sometimes.

Bulma and Bulla were in the communication room all the time, they could listen to the police radio, to a lot of public news, and there was also a bunch of TVs where the current news program was switched on. They almost forgot to eat and drink, so Valese and Videl prepared some food for them.

Trunks was standing at the window and looked out through the glass; lost in thoughts. He neither talked nor let anyone see how concerned he really was; he did not show any sign of panic or fear, nor of wrath or rage… they had never seen him so helpless.

Bullas twins, little Vegeta and Kaya, tried once again to make his uncle a little bit happier, or at least, distract him for a while. They were young and often did nerve racking things, but right now they knew that they must try everything to make their relatives happy. Kaya, the little girl with the blue hair and green eyes was not able to use her Saiyan heritage, but she started to tell a little story, about dragons and fighting Saiyans and her brother, little Vegeta, performed the fighting moves and dragon roars that illustrated the story. Their uncle did them the favor and listened to the story; when they finished little Vegeta performed a short flight around the room. Trunks smiled at them, and for a short time at least the younger children were happy.

:-:

Vegeta did not like the trouble in his house, so he had left with a short good bye. For a while he had circled the town, flying or running round, to try to sense a glimpse of Pans Aura. But she was gone, there was no other Saiyan except those, he left in his house hours ago. Following a new idea, he went straight to god´s palace, the artificial island that was hovering in the skies high above earth. Of course the Namekian Dende and his assistant Popo already knew what happened, and they also had tried to get a general look-around for Pan, but they also did not find her.

»It is a riddle for me.« Dende said to Vegeta. »It seems as if Pan is not on earth any more.« He sighed. »And it is not possible to try to find her with the Dragon Balls. The Black Star Super Dragon Balls are still banned in stone, for our own safety, and those I made for earth have gone with Goku ten years ago.«

»Can´t you make new ones?« Vegeta asked.

Dende shook his head: »As long as I do not get the allowance from Shenron, it is impossible. The Great Dragon decided that the earth is better off without Dragon Balls… I am sorry. I could ask the oldest of the Namekians at New Namek, for their Dragon Balls, but as far as I am informed, they used them half a year ago to prevent a massive Asteroid to hit their planet. To grant this wish the dragon needed all his strength. I am afraid, they are also turned to stone.« Dende looked to the sky: »Who could have interest in kidnapping Pan?«

Vegeta requested: »You too think that she was taken by someone? But who could be so strong to kidnap Pan? And who the heck could be stupid enough to mess up with Saiyans?«

Dende replied: »I am afraid that you already know the answers to all of your questions, but you don´t want them to be true. I also do not like those thoughts, but all that we _really_ can be sure of, is, that Pans Aura is gone. Whoever has taken her, she is in a place where I can´t sense her. I cannot get contact to the Kaioshin, or Master Kaio; they contact me if they want to. I will keep on trying to call them, but…« he cleared his throat. »You know that there could be _another_ reason why the life-light of a person has disappeared.«

Vegeta said: »Dende, you´d better never say that again. She is _alive_, I am sure about that, and someone is hiding her. But that means, we have almost no chance to find her, and it makes no sense that my family and all the others keep on searching her on earth.«

»I´d say no.« the Namekian, who was the earth´s god, replied.

Vegeta left Gods Palace. While flying, he sarcastically growled to himself: »Kakarot begged me to take care of everybody. Ha. You did a real good job, Vegeta.«

:-:

When he arrived at home, he was in the middle of the chaos, which he hated so much. There were about one-hundred reporters, civilians, policemen and cameras in front of the house. Everyone wanted to know something about the mayor´s kidnapping. Some of the spectators were clearly showing off, one or two of them really pretended to know something about the kidnapping, they pretended to be witnesses and lied as much as people could lie, only to get some of the reporters to listen to them. It was crystal clear that those people knew nothing, and for one second Vegeta had the urgent wish to stuff their lies back into their throats, but he had other problems, so he landed on the balcony and went back into the dinner room, They were trying to enjoy the meal that Chichi, Videl and Valese had prepared. No one was really hungry, but they wanted to pay the regards to the cooks. Everyone looked at Vegeta.

»Back home, Vegeta?« Bulma asked a little bit angry. »Where have you been?«

»At Dende´s.« the Prince of the Saiyans replied with a cold voice. »Listen. There is no chance. Pan is not on earth. She´s been taken somewhere else, where we can´t sense her.«

All of them stared at him in silent shock. Trunks skin was pale as chalk, and he tried to ask something but he could not find his voice. Those cold words had hit them deeply.

:-:

Pan was the only one who could say something: »Vegeta, how dare you! You can´t shock them like that. Say something that makes them happy! Right now!« she was close to the screen now and could clearly see how overwhelmed her family members were. She turned round with small tears in her eyes and yelled: »You damned mutant, you can´t do that! This is so cruel!«

His voice was full of sarcasm: »That is exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to hurt them as much as possible, and in the same way raise and feed their wrath and their wish for revenge. I know the Saiyans. They live for the fight, but if they learn to love their families, they are vulnerable. I´ll get them all.« he laughed.

Pan shouted: »Then keep me, for goodness sake, but leave them alone!«

The mutant still laughed: »You still do not understand, do you? I got you already, and I can do to them whatever I want. I am the Master now. And I see, it makes much more fun to see them suffer than to possess them.«

Now Pan yelled at her strongest voice: »Shut up, I do not want to hear your voice!«

A moment of total silence followed, and in exactly those quiet seconds Pan could see, that Vegeta started to speak again: »But we must not – _we will not_ – stop until we found her, and if we have to turn over the whole galaxy! We are her family and we won´t give her up! We will get her back. I promise that! To all of you! And woe betide the one who took her...« He turned round and looked out of the window again.

Videl started to cry, but they all understood her feelings, and Gohan put an arm around her, Urian, her son, leaned at her other side. They both tried to comfort her.

Bulma stood up, heading straight for the door, but she said, before she left the room: »He is right. Maybe her Aura is only suppressed, or kind of weaker, and we could sense her when we are closer to the place where she is hidden. I´ll start to prepare the space-ship.«

»I´ll help you, mom.« Trunks also got up. »The sooner we go, the sooner we find her.«

All the others looked at him in silence.

Then Gohan said: »No. Not you. You won´t come with us.«

»What?« Trunks did not understand. »Why not?«

His best friend Goten explained: »Cause you´re much too close to it, ok, w…we think this would not be good for you.«

Trunks gasped for air, then he shouted: »Don´t you try to tell me that you are not close to it! Goten, you are her uncle, and Gohan, she´s your daughter! You also love her and want her back! Don´t tell me that you aren´t scared.«

Gohan and Goten nodded in unison, then Gohan explained: »She´s my child, yes, and I love her as much as a father could do. I know it is difficult to understand why we think that it is not good, if you come with us. But believe me, it is better if you stay here. That for I will be the pilot of one of the space-ships. I´ll take Urian with me, he can help me with all the mathematical challenges of a space flight.«

Goten said: »I will also go, and if you want, Shane, I would prefer you as co-pilot. We can change between flying and resting, so we might be a lot faster.« He turned to Vegetas daughter: »Or will you need him here because of little Vegeta and Kaya, Bulla?«

»Of couse I come.« Shane replied. »Pan is part of my family.«

Little Vegeta said with a hard voice: »My sister and I will try to be good children until aunt Pan is back. We promise, we´ll be nice. Dad, you can help Goten.«

Videl asked: »And don´t you think that I will sit at home to wait for news. I will go with you, Gohan. We´ll be a lot more efficient if we are three.«

Trunks was up to start a new protest, but his mother Bulma cut his words off ere he could speak: »Well, so we´ve got our Astronauts. I´ll prepare the old space-ship immediately for Gohans group, and as soon as possible I´ll get a fast one for Goten and Shane too.«

Bulla said: »I will install the new Communication-System, which allows us to speak to another even over bigger distances. We´ve got the prototypes at the laboratory in the headquarter of the Capsule Coorporation. Maybe we´ll get the engines also renewed, mom?«

»I am sure of that.« Bulma nodded. »They could be at last one third faster than now. We´ll be ready in three days, if we hurry.«

Again Trunks wanted to say something, but this time it was his father who wouldn´t let him speak. Vegeta put a warning hand on his sons shoulder, and said: »I will stay here and keep an eye on him, so that he won´t do anything stupid.«

Gohan, Goten, Videl and Shane nodded. »Good.« one of them murmured.

Now Trunks voice was only a whisper, and this time they let him speak: »I do understand you… believe me. And you are right. I love Pan so much that I can´t find the right words to explain it. Maybe it is really better if I stay behind. There is still the possibility that she knocks out her kidnapper, and returns on her own. She´ll be very angry if no one is here to welcome her home, and to admire her for her escape.«

Gohan started to laugh, and this sound really was real: »You are right with that. We all circle round and round out there, and she thinks that we are all out of mind because we think that she can´t handle a kidnapper alone.«

Goten turned to Valese: »Do you stay here with my mother, or will you go home?«

»I think I will go home, because Merve must go back to school on Monday. But Merve, little Goku and I will stay in close contact with Bulma, Bulla and Chichi.«

Goten nodded: »You can come with me now… I also need to go home, to pack some clothes and other stuff. I got the jet outside.« the younger son of Goku turned to Bulma and Shane: »I´ll be back as fast as possible.« Immediately after those words they left, because they did not want to lose any more time.

:-:

»Ha! You see?« Pan jumped to her feet. »This is my family! They won´t give up, and I too won´t give in. So be prepared. I´ll be after you in that very moment, when you expect it the least. And if you should ever try to get a step, or even a _half_ step, too close to me, you will regret it. This is a promise. And now… leave me alone. Thank you and Good bye.« She turned away from him and went upstairs to the sleeping room.

He looked after her, and for this time he seemed really stunned. Pan smiled to herself. Maybe he finally had realized that she was not afraid of him, and that she would work and fight against him until his – or if necessary _her own_, last breath. Since the bedroom had no real door in the floor, Pan toppled over one of the wardrobes and placed the big cupboard over the hole where the staircase went down.

She was not stupid; she knew that he could remove that barrier easily if he liked too, and that he also was able to do Instant Transmission, but with this big piece of furniture she had made it clear that she wanted to be alone and that he´ll gonna get in very great trouble if he tried to disturb her in any way.

Sleeping was maybe dangerous, but she perfectly knew that she couldn´t stay awake all the time only to be ready when he tried something… sooner or later she would be so overtired that she could not even fight him. The violet clouds over the transparent cupola still moved, but it was kind of darker, the reddish sky had turned to the color of old blood. The bed was kind of okay, but it would be much better to be at home… she sighed and stretched herself, and sleep came faster than expected. Somewhere at a point between day and dream she imagined not to be alone here, in that dangerous place, but together with her husband in her own, well known bed, and… deep inside she somehow could feel a second life nearby. Did she really love Trunks so much that she could feel … a moving…?

_One moment!_ She had cold toes. Yes, her toes felt really icy and… _touched_. Something cold moved next to her feet, then she felt it at her shinbone, at her knee… This was no dream! Something was inside her bed and grabbled at her. If this was that horrible mutant… this was much too close!

She kicked back the blanket and shrieked, but was ready to fight. This was not the Tsufurian mutant, but something definitely had found it´s way in her bed. At the first sight, in the almost absolute darkness, it looked like a big, slightly rotten potato, that had one flat side with which it sat on the bed. She switched on the light to look at the thing. The upper side was wrinkled and leathery like the skin of a toad but thicker and dry, the flat bottom was as slimy as a snail´s foot, and it produced a slightly slimy spur wherever it went to. The thing reached out for her shinbone again with his apparently front body part, but Pan kicked the thing out of the bed with a resolute move.

The strange thing seemed to be bewildered, but not really hurt, and opened two big eyes to stare back at Pan. Those yes sat in the middle of the figure and were very big, almost looking like those of a human, but blue and with heavy lashes. The thing did not seem to be very dangerous. Between the eyes and the slimy bottom, a small mouth opened and the thing asked with a voice almost sounding like a little cat: »Mau?«

»Oh, I am sorry, did I hurt you? I did not want to do that.« Pan said to the little thing, that still sat on the floor. »Well you really scared me. I did not expect someone to grab me, you know? And I do not like slimy tracks in my bed. I do not care about that on the floor, but… stay out of my bed, and we can be friends. Are you hungry? Or thirsty?« She stood up and pushed the big cupboard out of the way. The whole house was dark, but in the light that was shimmering from her bed, she could see the slimy trace that the animal left when it climbed the stairs.

The potato-snail, as Pan chose to call that thing, had also been downstairs and left some more tracks in front of the fridge. Maybe it had smelled the food in there. The young Saiyan woman could not find out where the first track of that animal came from, but maybe she´d see as soon as it was day again.

Pan, who had not tried anything out of that kitchen yet, took some fruit with her upstairs, and placed one of the pear-formed objects on the floor. The potato-snail immediately rushed to that fruit and started to eat. Watching it, Pan also felt hungry and tried a bit of that sort of fruits too. After a while, they had shared and eaten all the things the young woman had brought with her, and the potato-snail seemed to be content and closed her eyes with another soft meowing sound. And finally, Pan also fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Spies everywhere!**

It was morning again. Although all of them were very tired now, they did not take rest. Bulma, Shane, Gohan and Trunks were busy with the technical equipment of the first space-ship, Bulla was at the Capsule Corporation to get the permission of the scientists that they could use the new, fast prototype space-ship for Shane and Goten. Of course they were ok with that but since this ship was not yet equipped with the utensils one might need for a longer space-trip it would need one or two days longer than the other ship to be ready for start, but then it would be at least one third faster than the other one.

Bulla ordered the mechanics in the laboratory: »Remember, we need two chairs in the cockpit, two beds, a small bathroom, and a little kitchen, and if possible a small area where my husband and Goten can relax. Install them our newest communication system. I know that this space-ship is rather small but you will manage that. In the meantime I´ll organize the food and water supplies, and so on. Be ready in two days and you´ll see a nice extra-money for that month. I do not have to tell you how important this is.«

Of course the mechanics had heard what had happened and everyone was ready to give all of his abilities and full strength to finish the space-ship as fast as possible.

Bulla continued: »Tomorrow Shane and Goten will have a look at the ship, and I am sure that my brother will also come here to help. Do your best, I know that you genius.«

:-:

Meanwhile, Gohan and his son Urian had started to work on the route that they would fly. They had only two ships and therefore they needed to coordinate the search through the galaxy very well. Maybe it was better to start at the point that was as far away as possible and work the way back to earth? Or was it better to start next to earth and then search at the planets they already knew, Namek, Yardrat, Pital, and Imecka and so on… Goten and Shane would be only two, but they had the faster ship so they could manage greater distances in shorter time, but still there was the problem that they must set the routes in a way that they could meet friendly planets from time to time, to get some fuel and new food and water supplies. They were working with the stellar map that Goku, Pan and Trunks had made during their first space journey.

Videl returned from the shopping arcade and started to put a lot of food packages in the space-ships fridge. Then she went to her husband and son and asked: »Urian, would you please go and look for the car-keys, I think I forgot them in the car. And please take the rice box with you, when you return.«

»Yes, mother.« the young boy left the space ship at a fast pace.

Videl sat down next to Gohan: »What do you think? You are worried. I can see that in your eyes although you try to look confident, because you don´t want to scare Urian.«

»Oh, darling, I think so much, I can hardly concentrate on the route. I am eager to go and I will do everything to finish the preparations as fast as possible, but there are still the other things. Who is the kidnapper? What does he want from Pan? How did he manage to supress her Aura in that way? What… that person or that persons maybe do to her…«

Videl sighed deeply: »I am also afraid, Gohan. But if our daughter would be here, she´d be very angry that we are buried in our sorrows instead of looking forward. I am sure that she´s making life difficult for her kidnapper, wherever she may be.«

»Yes.« he laughed a little bit. »Maybe that kidnapper is down with his nerves right now.« he turned to the computer and started to check some route data.

That moment Trunks entered the space ship, together with Urian who was carrying a very heavy box of rice. »The engines should be ok.« Trunks said. »If you have got a minute, we could test them.«

»Of course we can.« Gohan said and saved the route data, ere he opened the engine-control-program of the space-ship. »Trunks, look at this, we could improve that shaking…«

:-:

Pan did not really care whether it was night or day at this planet, because it was no use. There was artificial light in the house and the air outside was poisonous and the light was always dim. She had slept as long as she needed, and to her surprise she felt really good. The potato-snail was with her in the bedroom, and the big cupboard still covered the staircase. As soon as Pan had pushed it away, and started to go down, the potato-snail also followed her. The little animal moved fast, and Pan was surprised that the small thing seemed to know what it did, as if it was not the first time that it was in here. Of course the house must be here for a longer time, it was not a space ship, nor a house that one could pack into a capsule… how did he built it on that cruel planet with the poisoned air? Had he had help?

For a second she had lost the potato-snail, but then she saw it again, it was heading directly to the trash flap and opened it with a push of its body. Without any sign of fear the animal let itself fall down, then a short sucking sound could be heard.

Pan could see the potato-snail outside of the house now; it crawled a little away, heading for an unknown place. The gas seemed not to affect it, but the young woman also noticed, that the snail avoided the tick lilac gas clouds. Whenever one of them approached, the animal hid its eyes and looked like nothing more than a stone. She was sure that the potato-snail was not breathing at these moments. But that was interesting… The skin of that animal was resistant to the gases out there. Could this maybe be of some use?

Again she looked at the big fridge, and at the gas bottle next to the oven. How could she fix he gas bottles at the fridge? And… where could she get an oxygen supply? If she somehow could enter the laboratory downstairs, would it be possible to use some skin cells of the potato-snail to create an artificial protective overall against those gases? Damnit! Now she was really mad at herself. _Why did I never really listen to Trunks when he started to tell me about the research work at the Capsule Corporation_? She always used to distract him as soon as he started to talk about his work… _Oh, I am so ignorant. Why didn´t I ask Bulma how she constructed the Dragon Radar, or all the other gimmicks?_ She sighed. She was a fighter, not a great inventor. And above all, how could she start to construct something here, without the mutant Furyon noticing, what she was doing? Where the heck was he right now?

At first, she had to know every part of the house, and for camouflage she started to clean up the floors with a wet piece of cloth and a bucket full of water. Yes, it was possible to move the fridge, and there were two extra bottles of propane gas in the broom cupboard. She was next to the door in the floor, that led to the laboratory, when she suddenly felt sick again, and headed off for the bathroom.

It was this very moment when the mutant reappeared in the house. Again he came from downstairs and this time he left the entrance of the laboratory open. Pan hid in the bathroom until he was upstairs. As long as he was out of sight she wanted to take a look at this laboratory, and maybe she could find out how she could open the door. But… something else distracted her. Was it more important to find out how to open the door, or to have a look what the mutant was doing? She did not trust him, and whatever he did in this house, it might have an unwelcome effect on her.

So she left the door and hovered upstairs in the staircase, moving slowly, to avoid any sound. And what she saw, made her shiver: The mutant was sitting at her bed and looked closely at the cushions. How appalling! She did not want him next to her, and of course not in her bed, whatever he was… now he smiled, and took something in his hand, that she could not see from her position. It must be a hair. And a hair had… her cells! Damned.

The Tsufurian mutant surely had the technical equipment to start his experiments with her hair, and as soon as he had her genetic material he would be at his goal. One hair might not be enough, but she was his prisoner, what if he took her blood or something… And as soon as he had enough genetic material he would make a creature that was beyond all imagination. Everyone would be in danger, especially her family and friends who were searching for her. When they crossed the mutant´s way, a fight was inevitable.

She took a deep breath. There was only one good thing to think of. As long the mutant was still busy with his experiments, he had no time to go to earth and hurt the others.

»I won´t make it easy for you, to get my cells, mutant.« She went to the bathroom again to brush her hair, then she hid it under a headscarf. When she accidentally looked out through the crack of the door, she noticed that Furyon was back at the foot of the stairs. He did not pay enough attention, maybe he was too busy with the thought of the hair in his hand, but Pan could watch him step on one and the same place on the last stair for two times, then the door in the floor opened itself. He went downstairs.

Pan wrinkled her brow. Did he really think that she wouldn´t have noticed that secret lock sooner or later? He must know that she´d search everywhere for an exit. Or did he plan to get rid of her so soon that it made no sense that she revealed that secret?

Something cold touched her leg. In the first moment she startled, but this kind of touch must be the non verbal »Hello.« of the potato-snail. It meowed again and cast a longing look for the fridge. It was definitely the same animal as before, so there was a way in and out of the waste flap – it was too small for Pan, but maybe she could get a probe of the atmosphere that way, to test if there were really poisonous gases. Now she knew the way to the laboratory. Maybe she really could make an artificial overall using the cellular structure of the potato-snail, so that she have something to protect her outside.

She fed the potato-snail with something that looked like carrots, and started to cook her some breakfast too. Then she took the food upstairs and sat down at the couch. Immediately she switched on the TV. Hours had passed since she had last seen her family members on the screen, and the scenery had changed. At home it was day, bit she could not clearly say how late it really was. No one was in the living room of Bulma´s house right now, and she heard nothing, therefore she only tried to find out where this camera was placed. How did the mutant get those camera into Bulmas house? Vegeta never let strangers upstairs, not even the pizza-boy. What kind of camera was it? It sent it´s pictures in color and was also able to transmit the sound in almost simultaneously. Why did no one notice that camera? At least Bulma must have recognized something strange in her living room, she used to clean up there herself, but apparently the camera was still unnoticed. A slight move shook the camera and for an instant one could see a piece of an orchid´s blossom. The spy camera sat in the decorative plants! That was a good hideout, but… even there Bulma must have noticed it.

Pan took the remote control in her hand and looked down at it. Now the channel number one was lit, all the others were dim. Pan pressed "Number 2" and was shocked. This camera sat in her own house, and overlooked the lonely dinner room. This mutant had also been in her house! There was no one at home. Of course not! If Trunks would be the one that was missing, she also would have gone to her parents or parents-in-law, and not stayed at home alone. With a bad feeling she switched to "Number 3" and this camera sent its pictures out of the house of her parents. The window shutters were closed, because no one was at home too. "Number 4" showed Bullas living room, but there was light. Shane was visible, and he packed some clothes into a suitcase. This crazy mutant had his spies at every place where Pan used to be sometimes! The Tsufurian mutant "former Baby, now Furyon" might be mad and driven by hate and the wish for vendetta, but he was nevertheless a good planner, and as it seemed, a good scientist. Surely he had used every single minute since his defeat to work out a strategy against the Saiyans. She switched back to "channel one" Bulmas house.

But why did he leave this remote control here? He must know that Pan would try everything to get a message to her family, and if it only was that she would overuse the zoom-lenses of the cameras so much that they started to squeak. Or did he leave that remote control on purpose, to give her the desperate chance to watch her beloved ones suffer?

In the middle of that control was a kind of small joystick, which could be steered with two fingers. She tried it out and was surprised, the camera in the room started to move. It went deeper into the flowers, and now the screen was half covered of orchid leaves. That was interesting! This was not a simple turn on a fix base, the whole camera had moved. Could she use that somehow? Maybe she was able to move the camera in a way that she could morsel her family some words? The joystick could be also moved a little bit upwards and she could press it also down. And suddenly, when she tried to pull it up a little bit longer, a muffled, humming sound mixed up with the normal sounds of the living room. The camera sent some slightly shaking pictures now and they seemed to come from higher upwards than before, and Pan noticed only one hairs breath before the camera could crash into the ceiling, that this device was flying now.

»I can´t believe it.« she said. This camera was able to move in all three dimensions, the mutant could surely place it wherever he liked to. What if the camera was not set in the living- or dining-room? Could he follow them in the bed- or the bathroom too? What a horrifying thought. But… a flying camera was really useful!

Pan quickly learned how to steer, and flew a circle in the living room. There were sounds from the kitchen; Bulma and Chichi were surrounded by food supplies, and ready-to-eat cooked and frozen meals. Her grandmother Chichi made fresh coffee in that moment. They seemed very busy and talked softly to each other. The twins, little Vegeta and Kaya, were playing with some dolls at the floor besides them. Pan was really surprised; she never had seen the kids so… quiet. She tried to get closer to her grandma and her mother-in-law to understand their words.

»Gohan sent Urian over to tell me that he is almost ready with the startup-check.« Chichi said. »I think we will hold them back if we try to keep them here for dinner. Let´s take those meals we have already prepared to the space ship.«

Bulma nodded: »Okay… Kaya? Vegeta? Would you please help us to carry the food to the space ship? We will stay there until they leave.«

»Of course, Gran.« Kaya said and stretched out her hands.

Pans heart ached. Her father was in a space ship, trying to find her… who was with him? Goten? Trunks? But ere Pan could try to follow Chichi, Bulma, and the twins to the hangar, there were steps at the stairs. She was no longer alone, the mutant had come back. Panicking, she steered the camera only backwards until she collided softly with the wall of the living room, and let go of the joystick. The camera landed and stopped moving immediately when the remote control was in standby position again.

»Don´t try to pretend, that you haven´t learned how to move the cameras.« Furyon said with a sharp voice. »I knew you´d figure it out sooner or later. If I wouldn't have wished you to find it out, I wouldn't have let the remote control here.« He sat down in his chair.

Pan asked with icy voice: »Why did you tell me that?«

Furyon replied: »Think of any answer, you might like, or not like. I do not care, that's it. Play with the cameras, or leave it. It is your decision.«

What was that information for? Was it a part of his plan to let her know the abilities of the camera? Or did she surprise him, and he only said that, to pretend that he still had everything under control? She did not like that situation.

Pan put the remote control back on the glass table: »I am bored. You can´t expect me to do nothing all the time. There´s nothing to read and no other TV program than those spy-camera-pictures. I need some work.« She sighed, then she turned to the mutant with a little bit friendlier voice: »I could cook some lunch… there is enough in the fridge. Are you hungry too? What sort of food do you like? I mean, at least the body of your host needs food.«

»Do you try to poison me?« he was really astonished.

Pan smiled angrily but answered with a light voice: »If I could, I surely would. But I have no poison. No, it was just an idea. I need to do something, and I am feeling a little bit hungry, I´d like some hot food, and… if I start cooking, why shouldn't I cook for two? I am used to it, whenever I have time I cook for me and Trunks at home. Why is that so strange for you? Did no one before ask you to eat lunch with him or her?«

»No.« the mutant replied. »My hosts memory has something in it about eating food together with others. But myself… no. I used to force _others_ to be _my_ food.«

Pan warned: »Please don´t get disgusting, or I will take back my invitation. So… what would you like to try as you first lunch with someone else?«

Furyon seemed to be really surprised by that offer and answered: »Well, prepare what you like. I will try that too.«

»Okay.« Pan replied and went downstairs.

He followed her immediately after, and went to his laboratory, but this time he closed the door tightly behind him. There was no sound from below. No one could say if the machines worked that soundless, or if he was not working at all.

Pan used the stuff she could find in the fridge and the kitchen cupboards. While she prepared the food, she of course thought about her escape plans again. The gas-flame of the oven was still strong, and there was a pressure-limiting outlet at the gas bottle. But how could she fix the gas bottles at the fridge without damaging both devices? Bulma would be very amused and surely she would laugh for some hours, if she knew that Pan really was up to create a space ship out of a fridge, and propane gas bottles. And Trunks? At first he would try to convince her not to do it, but after a while he would also be interested in trying it… because he wanted to know what happened, if someone would shoot a fridge to a planet´s orbit. But it was not a good idea to think about Trunks… Pan knew that she would try everything to see be with him again but… small tears started to form in her eyes, and she did not want the mutant to see her so weak. She started chopping some onion-like vegetables, to pretend that she was crying because of them.

After a while, the food was ready and she put the pots on the table in the dinner-corner, in addition to that she placed two plates and cutlery at the table; also two glasses and a bottle of water. »Meal´s ready!« she cried.

Furyon reappeared from his laboratory, and no sign on his face or body let Pan know what he had done down there. Had he been successful? Or did his plans fail? »Smells good.« the mutant said, and for one time his voice did not sound sharp and unfriendly.

»Thank you.« Pan replied. »Try it.« and got herself the first amount of food.

She had prepared rice, vegetables out of the Wok with sweet and sour sauce, and crispy chicken – or a bird that had looked like a chicken. In fact it tasted more like duck, but that did not matter a lot. The mutant was definitely not used to eat meals with someone, he looked really desperate and had problems to decide if he was allowed to take some more food out of the pots or not, when his plate was empty.

»Take what you like!« Pan said, to break the silence. »It is enough for everyone.«

Not a long time after all pots and plates were empty and Pan removed them from the table. She piled them in the dishwasher, and when she returned to get the cutlery, she was surprised to hear the mutant say: »I really liked your food. Thank you.«

»Fine, thanks for the praise.« Pan replied. It did not matter to her how short that small talk during the lunch had been, she had seen another side of the mutant. If he wanted to, he could be quite normal for a while.

Without much more words, just telling her a short: »Good bye.« he left again to his lab, and then there was the dead silence all around again.

:-:

Why did he leave her alone so often? To make her crazy? She did not know what he did when he was away… it was better to have him here, so that he was a little bit under her supervision. But he had left her again. Sighing, she switched the dishwasher on and went upstairs to the TV. It was nothing more than an evil spy to her world, but at least she could see what happened, and that they all were ok. There was still no one at home at her house, and at her parents, and Shane also had left Bullas house. But what she could see clearly was, that dusk had started to fall on earth. Had she been busy with cooking so long?

She switched to the house of her parents-in-law again. Of course dusk had started there too, the light that came from the window was orange-tanned, and from the dining-room that was next to the kitchen she could see artificial light. Voices also drifted over from there.

Pan restarted the camera and flew slowly towards the other room. The first thing she could see, was Vegetas back, who had taken place at the seat next to the entrance.

Pan flew in a little bit more. No one noticed the camera. What kind of thing was it? It couldn´t be that small, could it? Not all members of her family were there. Her father, her mother and her little brother Urian were absent, also Valese, Merve, Baby Goku, and Trunks.

»The start was so cool!« little Vegetas voice that moment yelled, and he tried to simulate the process with his plastic-fork. »Wham, and they went up in the air. Do you think they have passed the moon already, mom?« he turned to Bulla.

»Well, I am not really sure, Gohan said he wanted to teach Videl and Urian a little bit of flying as soon as they are in space. Maybe they are still learning.«

Her son murmured: »Learning is boring.«

Then Bulmas louder voice surpassed him: »Please come in and eat something. You haven´t had a bit since that happened. Please, Chichi and I tried our best here.«

Vegeta nodded: »Yes, it is really good.«

»See, even your father says that it is fine. Come here.« Bulma pleaded.

Trunks´ voice seemed to come from a distance: »Not hungry.«

Kaya demanded: »Uncle, you have to eat. You get ill, and aunt Pan will be mad.« She added: »Mom also tells us off if we do not eat our vegetables. Although they taste so green.«

Bulma laughed out loud: »It _tastes green_! I remember that from you Bulla, and you, Trunks. You also said that, especially when I cooked cabbage.«

Pan turned the camera and saw Trunks who was at the balcony, his back turned to his family and friends. »How rude! Now, you gonna see what I tell rude people as soon as I am back again. Don´t you see that they are worried? No! You don´t even look at them. _Grr_.«

Enraged, Pan steered the camera towards the balcony at top speed, and nearly knocked the closed side of the glass door, but she scraped through and was outside now. What the heck was happening here? What kind of camera was that, why didn´t anyone notice it?

She flew one circle around Trunks who stood motionless and stared into the orange sky. His breath was calm, and he looked so tired, as if he had not slept since she was gone. Pan knew at once, that he was worried beyond all measures. He loved her so much, and looked so helpless, lost in his sorrows. Pan could feel that tears started to run down her cheeks. She was afraid for him. What would happen if he ever met her kidnapper? She was sure that he´d risk everything, even his life, to save her. That must never happen!

Pan hold the camera next to his face to look at him, and whispered: »Trunks, please…« sobbing deeply, she lost control over the remote of the camera for one part of a second and collided softly with the left edge of his glasses. She steered back with a jolt, but Trunks turned away from the horizon and looked directly at the camera now.

For a moment he seemed to wonder, and was up to rise the hand to hush that flying thing away, but then… one could clearly see that his brilliant brain started to work. His face showed a thoughtful expression, and he pushed back his glasses in the right position, to see the thing before him with the most available sharpness.

Pan moved the camera in the only way she could think of; she flew the mathematical sign for "infinity" a sideward-lying 8, and repeated it constantly. Trunks followed the flight only with his eyes, nothing else on him moved. In these moments a bomb could have exploded right next to him and he wouldn´t have noticed.

»Infinity.« he said at very low voice.

Pan yelled: »Yes, yes, that is exactly what I mean! You understood, darling!« She changed the direction into up-and-down, as if she was nodding.

»Mum!« Trunks cried with an enlightened look at his face. »Look at this!« He grabbed in the air and caught the camera with his right hand. All went dark for a moment. Was this camera so small that it fitted in one hand? Surely it must be…

When sight returned, Pan shrieked… the camera showed a bizarre scene. It was Bulma´s eye, monstrously enlarged by a magnifying glass.

»But this is the work of a mastermind!« she was excited. »It is a camera, with microphone and radio, and all! I´ve never seen anything like that before!«

One after another all the others, even the kids, looked at the small camera.

Vegeta asked: »A camera? It looks like a fly.«

Bulma protested: »How dare you to assume, that I let flies live in my house? This is a ladybug, and I do not kill ladybugs. There are thousands out there in the rose garden, one more or less does not matter… and that´s what the person who sent this camera into our house surely thought of too. Whoever constructed that camera, he is able to watch every single move that we make.«

Vegeta growled: »Then let´s crush it. I do not want a spy-bug in my house!«

»No!« Trunks shouted. »This might be the only possibility to stay in contact with Pans kidnapper. That thing surely has a radio transmitter. If we can find out where that signal is going to, maybe we will be a lot closer to Pan. And in addition to that…« he pushed the magnifying glass away and yelled at the camera: »If he ever dares to hurt Pan, I can´t guarantee for nothing! Be warned, whoever you are and keep your fingers off my wife!«

Pan had never before seen him so angry. He was usually calm and friendly, but well… he could be as angry as he wished to be… if that mutant ever tried to touch her, Trunks would not get the chance to pay him back. Pan herself would be the one who would bring that creature down.

»We must not let him know that we search for the radio signal.« Bulla said that moment. »The best would be to let that thing fly again, and let us hope, that he has not witnessed the last few minutes.«

Trunks was the same opinion: »As soon as he knows that we might find him when we follow the signal, he probably switches the camera off and disappears again with Pan.«

Bulma let go of the camera and Pan immediately flew the little thing to a safe corner, where she placed it. Should the mutant Furyon arrive now, he would never notice, what had happened. _Or would he?_

Goten turned to Shane: »Hey, what do you think? Let´s have a nightly visit at the space-ship-construction-site? Maybe we can help them to be faster.«

Bulma, Bulla and Trunks said in unison: »We will come with you.« Bulma added: »I need that radio-signal-detector out of the communication lab. Then I start searching for the receiver of the camera´s pictures.«

Vegeta sighed: »That leaves me with Chichi and the kids, right?« he spoke to his grandchildren now: »Do you want to play with me in the gravity chamber?«

Of course they wanted to, and Chichi said: »Then I have time to clean up here. Do your best, so that the space-ship is ready soon. When you come back here, I will have some cookies and coffee ready.«

Pan smiled, while she saw her family members leaving. She also left for downstairs, because the dishwasher was ready. She knew very well that she could not leave here, and not reach earth, but as long as her parents, and Goten and Shane kept searching for her, she could hope that they would pass by next this planet. Maybe it was useful if she tried to send out one big Ki signal per day, maybe they would sense it when they were close enough. But there was still the other question: _Why was this all so damned easy?_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Who is that woman!**

One week had passed since Goten and Shane had left earth. Although they had departed two days later than Gohans family, they were already farer away from earth than the other ship. They shared flying almost continuously, so they never needed the automatic pilot which would fly with some sort of limited speed. They always held the ship at a speed level that was as high as the engines could take it properly. Neither Shane nor Goten wanted to risk that the space ship got damaged, so they never sped up into the red zone of capacity. But in this area of the universe there seemed to be no planets at all – they had come here to be sure of that after all, but they never stopped in a solar system.

Every time, when they made contact with earth, they asked about the little camera and if Bulma, Trunks or Bulla had been successful in tracking the signal back to the receiver. But Pans kidnapper wouldn´t make it that easy to them. He used a hidden transponder in one of earth´s own satellites to receive the outgoing-signals from earth and they were digitally remastered there and then sent out to several other computers throughout the galaxy to re-code the signal. Almost all of those computers were way higher in technical level than those available on earth, so the camera´s signal would reach its goal almost with no time difference.

That was totally different from the communication abilities of earth, even with Bullas new radio in the cockpits. There was still a time loss between sending and receiving, and the same time loss if earth answered the space-ships. The farer they were out, the longer this difference was, and if Goten and Shane would fly on with that speed, the radio signal would soon need to long from them to earth and back again, to make any sense. They would be practically out of reach.

And if that would not be enough, also the signal which was used from the kidnapper to steer the camera – the incoming signal, was not detectable. It also was also re-routed to use the best computers and radio stations that were available, and when Trunks finally found out something about the sender, they were disappointed again. The sender´s location was coded, and this code had _eleven_ possible positions, and the single positions could be filled either with numbers, letters, or signs; surely also letters and numbers out of an alien language. It would have been life´s work to try to decode it. Of course they started the Super-Computers of Capsule Corp. to solve that riddle, but that needed time.

Goten and Shane had been silent for a while now, although they were both awake. They had finally found a planet, which looked like as if there could be life on it. It was small, green and had no seas or big mountains, but it was a chance. Shane activated the computer to search for life signs, and after one minute there were results.

»Yes, life is possible there.« Bullas husband said. »The computer sees enough oxygen in the air and detects some primitive life forms at the surface, but it seems that they haven´t reached the age of technology yet.«

Goten nodded: »Nevertheless, I try to concentrate on Pans aura. Try to hold the ship steady, I need to focus. I must admit that I am not very used to Ki-sense any more.« He closed his eyes and tried his best. Yes, he could feel the strong life energy of Shane next to him, and he could sense a lot of energies down at the planed, but… »No. Pan is not here. The life signals I get from down there are all the same, and they are quiet, really quiet. Nothing has ever disturbed them. And I think that the landing of a space-ship would have been noticed by them. But to be entirely sure, let us scan the planet for any technical device we may find, even if it is only a shattered satellite of another solar system.«

»Yes.« Shane agreed, but also that brought no results. He sighed and asked: »Are you really sure that she is still alive, Goten? We lost her almost ten days ago, and according to some tales of your past, ten _hours_ had been enough to destroy a planet.«

Gotens face was grim: »If we think like that, we could turn around and go home, Shane. No, we must try our best to find her. Let´s go to the next solar system.«

:-:

Pan would have gone crazy within all the time that she had been on that planet now. She was alone for the most hours of the "day". Her kidnapper only visited her for lunch or for dinner now. It was a strange situation… he was never unfriendly and every time when he came to visit her, he brought something with him, either food, or some new clothes. One day he gave her new bathroom equipment. It was possible for Pan to talk to him on almost normal terms; he also asked her what kind of stuff she would need, and then he went away again. He never told her where he went to, but it was proved now that he must be able to use Instant Transmission. There was no space ship, nor any other escape hatch out of that cupola house.

But the best of all was, that he never found out about Pans new experiment down in his laboratory. When he left the house, he also left the laboratory and she had started to go down there almost one week ago now. At first she had tried to find out what all those machines were good for, and how she could use them to escape. Pan knew by now, where she could get an oxygen supply from, and once she had tried to burn Propane gas in absolute vacuum. She had found lots of tools and mechanic´s equipment, which she could try to use to fix the gas bottles at the fridge, if she´d ever dare it.

Since three days she had started another test, where she tried to analyze the skin cells of the potato-snail. The skin of that animal was super-resistant to the gases of the atmosphere out there. If she could breed those cells artificially, maybe it was possible to cover the outer side of an overall with them, so that she had a protective suit… Maybe this was crazy, but Pan had so much time for her alone, that she started to follow every idea, only to have something to do. And in addition to that, the potato-snail had become somewhat like a pet, she used to feed it with vegetables and fruit, and had a small companion.

But there were also points in her life, which she did not like at all. Her family was searching for her, this was fine, and understandable, but it could be wrong after all. They´ve separated in small groups, and… this was not good. Last time, the mutant had had no problems to get them all down, even when they were together, and now… they were only in groups of two or three. The mutant was surely stronger now than he had been before, and he had more vicious ideas.

The earth was protected rather well, there were Vegeta, Trunks, Bulla and… yes, if needed, also the twins, who had Saiyan blood. But she was concerned about the space-ships-crew. In one ship there was her uncle Goten, who was only a Half-Saiyan and had not really trained for years. Shane was a good pilot, but no fighter. And in the other ship there was her father Gohan, also a Half-Saiyan. Her mother had been able to fight well in her younger days, but since she had two children she never trained hard, only for fun. And Pans brother Urian? He was a genius but definitely not a warrior; it seemed as if he had no Saiyan genes at all.

Pan was sure that the mutant planned something. Something very big. And she knew almost instinctively, that she would not be very happy about these plans. And, come to think about it, wasn't it strange, that she had a whole laboratory in the cellar of this prison-house, where she could do what she wanted to? He never used that room, although there were the best machines. Why was it there? Why was it so easy?

Maybe a shower would help to look through these riddles, so she went downstairs and turned on the hot water. But even that did not make it better. Thoughts kept creeping through her mind. Where did this water supply come from? She never saw how he refilled a water- tank or some cistern. And… she startled so much, that she nearly slipped on the wet floor of the shower. The bathroom door opened and the mutant stepped in the damp room.

»Hello there?« he asked. »I´ve…« he did not get any further.

Pan yelled: »How dare you! Get yourself out of here, you pervert! Right away! Out!« She prepared an energy shot in her hand. »Leave me alone! Out here!« Instead of throwing the energy ball she thrust her fist against the mist-covered glass wall of the shower. »Get out or I´ll rip your head off, I swear it!«

»Calm down, woman.« the Tsufurian said. »Despite the fact that the body of my host and yours wouldn't fit together, I personally don´t think that you are attractive. I need you for my heir, not for myself. If I would want you, I surely wouldn't have waited that long.«

Pans voice was like ice now: »So, you don´t think that I am attractive, yes? Now that´s _really_ a reason to rip your head off! I am attractive! Ha!«

»Maybe for the simple minds of Humans and Saiyans.« he replied. »But I did not come here to tell you that, Pan. I brought the iron-bender, that was missing in your tool-box.«

Pan wondered herself: »Iron-bender? I never told you about an iron-bender.« _Nevertheless I could need one to prepare the iron straps with which I want to fix the gas bottles at the fridge._ She thought._ But why did he offer her one…_ »Hand me the bathrobe, please.« she said and put one arm out of the shower´s door.

He reached out for the piece of cloth, handed it over, and a short time later she stepped out of the shower. »So, tell me now, Furyon… why do you give me an iron-bender? You perfectly know that I still try everything to get away from here. To give me another useful tool, will be bad for you.«

»Well.« he answered. »Of course I know that you plan something. And I do not interfere with your plans, because of two reasons. The first one is, that, whatever you do, won´t work – but it keeps you from getting crazy, and gives you hope. The second reason is closely connected with the first one. I am not _entirely_ cruel. I want you to spend your last days in happiness, and trying to escape makes you happy. I will be ready soon, a few days from now on; not even a week, I think, and then you will be mine. So… enjoy your last hours in freedom, Pan, try whatever you want to try… in the end it will make no difference.« He smiled, touched his forehead with one finger and then he was gone.

Pan was shocked. Although he had spoken to her with a friendly voice, the words were awful. Was his plan really so good that there was no chance to escape… nor… to survive somehow? But… what if he only said that to terrify her, and so to keep her off from thinking constructively? A panicked mind does not work well.

And at that moment she looked back at the glass-shower-wall. Her fingerprints were still clearly visible there. Furyon could try to threaten her as much as he liked, but that won´t stop her from thinking about her own plans. Her fingerprints at the misty glass were the solution to at least one of her big problems. Now she knew how she could try to communicate with her family at home! And he won´t stop her doing that.

She gathered some clothes, this time a knee-long dress made of an alien kind of cloth, and a pair of trousers, then she hurried upstairs. If her counting had been right, it must be evening, or almost night at home. Pan switched on the TV in a hurry and tried the three other cameras first, as usual, but there was no one, everyone must be still at Bulmas house.

She was right. It was evening, the sky outside was dark, and her grandmother Chichi and Bulma, who looked very tired, were watching a game show on TV in the living-room. No one else was there and the two women did not talk to each other, so Pan could not hear the latest news. She flew one round, but there was no one in the bathroom right now, it was all dark. To be sure not to miss the right moment, she sat the camera next to the bathroom door. As soon as there would be light, she´d notice it.

Pan used the time, to look around in the whole house, and to clean up the shower, so that the mutant would have it difficult to find any more of her hairs. When she returned to the TV, the light in the bathroom was lit and the shower was on; to her delight also the mirror at the wall behind the washbasin was covered in mist. She did not care who was using the bathroom right now, even if only the twins were playing under the shower; sooner or later Bulla or any other grown up would have a look after them. So she jammed the camera against the mirror and started to write an "I" which was a simple letter. It was not entirely straight, but it worked! Fine! While she wrote, she saw almost nothing of the room, but in a pause between her last two letters she noticed the muffled figure of a person coming closer, and turned round to look, who it might be.

It was her father-in-law, and he was half naked, only a bath towel was tightened round his hips. He was reading the handling-instructions on the back side of a new pack of hair-dye, and stopped in front of the wash basin. His face got a really surprised expression, and that was strange for a man like Vegeta. Pan understood his astonishment very well and hurried to get her last letter ready, then she landed the camera at the edge of the mirror.

:-:

Vegeta stared up to the camera-insect with very evil thoughts. He hated that thing, which kept on spying in his house so much that he could hardly tell. If it was for him, he would have crushed it to pieces at the first sight. Who the heck wants to be watched, especially in the bathroom! He dropped the hair-dye out of sight and turned his gaze to the mirror. There were some words.

»It´s me, Pan.« he read out at low voice, then he growled, gasped for breath and roared: »Damned, Pan! What do you think you are doing, following me into the bathroom! Your idea is pretty good, but nevertheless… Isn´t it possible to get some _warning_, ere you show up somewhere? I´d prefer it to be alone in the bathroom.« Now he sighed. One could clearly see that he was relieved to hear from her.

Pan smiled and wrote a: »Sorry.« at the mirror. Now it was full.

Vegeta knew what to do, he immediately turned on the hot water and they waited until the damp had covered the mirror again. He still spoke loud: »Fine, you are sorry. Thank you. Can you tell me where you are? Are you all right?«

Pan tried to write: »No.« for the first question, and »Yes.« for the second one, but slowly she got the impression that the lens cover of the camera got scratched, pushing against the mirror made a squeaking sound.

»Damnit, knowing where you are would have helped us so much!« Vegeta shouted. »But it is a relief that you are ok. We were worried.«

Bulmas voice now mixed up with his. She cried: »Could you please stop yelling, Vegeta, there are people in this house who need to sleep!«

The Saiyan yelled back, friendly, but very loud: »I am talking to Pan, if you please.« he took a deep breath and turned to Pan again: »They´ll be all here in a few seconds. But Bulma is right. I can talk at normal voice, can I? I hope you are really all right. Or does someone force you to say that? Is your kidnapper next to you?«

Pan tried to write: »No.« at the mirror, but then she chose just to shake the camera from side to side, so to signal him that answer. He understood.

That moment Bulma opened the bathroom door and asked: »You are talking to Pan? But how?« she perfectly knew that he never would make a joke about such a thing.

»She´s flying that camera. At first she wrote words at the mirror, but the camera seemed to suffer because of the collisions. But she can answer yes and no questions by her maneuvers.« Vegeta explained. »Would you two please go to the living room now, I´ll get ready here, and join you there. I need only a few minutes.«

Bulma nodded and held a hand out for the camera. Pan flew into her hand and soon she was in the living room. »If you are really Pan, could you please fly up and down? This will be the _Yes_ signal. Ok?«

Pan immediately did what her mother-in-law wanted.

Bulma continued: »I think you can hear every word we say without any time loss, right? That much we could already find out about this camera. It is an incredible little thing. For we do not exactly know how much time we might have, we´ll concentrate only on the most important things, yes?«

»Yes.« Pan replied.

The older woman nodded: »Ok, so far. Your parents and your brother left in one space ship and they are as far out as Yardrat right now, Goten and Shane have a faster ship, and are currently somewhat next to Imecka, because they need fuel. I start to ask you some questions now, maybe we can get closer to your kidnapper or to you by that.«

Pan nodded.

»Ok. Do you know where you are?« _No_.

»Do you know your kidnapper?« _Yes_.

»Do we also know him?« _Yes_.

»Good. Now I´ll tell you some possible names, and you answer as soon as I got the right one, is that ok with you?« _Yes_.

But… slowly Pan started to think of something else. Whilst her mother-in-law started with the names list, she got more and more uneasy. Was it right to tell her family who her kidnapper was? As long as they did not know for sure, they were… calm in some sort of way. They would freak out if they´d know who was behind all this, and would run into even greater danger only to get her back. No one of them would look after his or own safety any more, this would go for life and death. And… _This was it_. Pan felt a cold shiver run through her body. _Yes, of course_. This was his evil plan, nothing else. He was up to use _her_ to inform her family about his existence. It would be Pan _herself_ who would deliver her worried family members to that mutant. As soon as they knew his name, they would guess his intention, and would be even more worried, and if they ever would find out where he was… then the mutant´s trap would close around them.

It was a brilliant plan. The Tsufurian mutant tried to convince Pan that he did not know what she was doing, but in fact he left her all possibilities – why else would he have left that remote-control here, why else was she alone for the most times of her imprisonment? He couldn´t be that silly. He must know. And he was waiting for the final move. But she would never let him lay hands on her family again. She had to finish him off alone and then she could return to earth, without getting her relatives in any more danger.

Bulma was ready with her list, but Pan said no. »The kidnappers name was not in the list?« her mother-in-law asked, and sighed. »Whom did I miss? Pan? By the way, if it gets too dangerous to talk, we´ll stop. We can continue to talk whenever it is ok again. Please do not get yourself in trouble because you use that camera.«

But within one moment Bulma seemed to be lost in thoughts, and Chichi and Vegeta, who both had entered the room, stopped dead and silent. They did not want to disturb her. And then Bulma said, with a little amount of suppressed fear in her voice: »Pan, I am sure that we know your kidnapper very well, isn't that so?«

Pan nodded. The brilliant brain of her mother-in-law was not easy to top.

Bulma sighed: »I was afraid of that. This is a problem, right? You won´t tell us who´s behind all this, because we´d be in even greater danger than now, if we´d knew, right?« _Yes_.

Vegeta said: »Danger does not matter to me, but if you think it is better not to tell us, we will respect your wish, Pan. Take care of yourself.« _Yes_.

That moment, another sound interrupted the talk, it was a muffled talk, coming from the entrance corridor. Trunks and Bulla had finally returned from Capsule Corporation.

»Sorry that it is late again.« Bulla said, when she stepped in the living room. »But you are all awake, I see? Did the twins wake you up?«

Chichi shook her head: »No, the little ones are sleeping since half past eight. It´s Pan. She´s flying that camera, and so she can talk to us.«

Trunks needed another confirmation: »Pan is flying that camera? Is she all right?«

Pan steered the camera around his head for one time and then she hovered in front of his face. He looked outworn, overworked, and extremely tired. That was not good. She crashed the camera on his forehead, and he went one step backwards to avoid the next blow. But Pan kept following him. It looked like as if the insect-camera had gone mad.

»Why does she hit me?« he demanded to know, but as long as he did not want to destroy that camera, he had no other chance than to leave the living room. Pan kept following him down the corridor, and all the others too, because they were interested in this new action.

Pan let Trunks stop in front of his own bedroom and placed the camera at the doorknob: »Go to sleep!« she said, although she knew that he could not hear her. But somehow he understood her intentions.

»Seems as if she wants me to go to bed…« Trunks said to his family members.

They all started to laugh, but finally Bulla said, gasping for air: »So you are still crazy for each other, no matter that Pan is light-years away.«

Trunks said to the camera: »Well then, if it makes you lucky, I´ll try to take a rest.«

Pan answered with a vehement _Yes_.

»But please… Pan… I need you to know that…«

Vegeta interrupted: »She knows, son. But she´s right, you need rest. You hardly ever slept since she´s gone.«

Pan flew one departing circle around Trunks head, and then she wanted to go back to the living room, but… had to stop all possible moves. The camera dropped from the sky and Bulla caught it. Fortunately Trunks did not see that; because it was a little bit worrying to watch that happy flying thing to fall down so sudden.

:-:

Pan turned round. The Tsufurian mutant was behind her.

He told her, with an evil smile on his face: »So you finally found a way to communicate with them, right? Thank you for that, this offers a lot of possibilities to me. Give me that remote-control.«

»No, never!« she growled and cracked the remote-control into pieces. »Now you can have it. It won´t be useful to you anymore. You leave them alone! Understood?« She threw the pieces of the remote control at him. »And now leave me alone!«

The mutant answered, still smiling: »We´ll see, we´ll see. Soon my heir is ready, and then we´ll see.« with these words he disappeared.

And for this time Pan really felt like crying, she left the sofa and the TV behind and locked herself up in the bedroom. Not even the potato-snail could pass through the barrier to be with her. After a while she must have fallen to sleep, because she was so exhausted from crying.

:-:

The next two days she tried to avoid the TV as much as possible. Most times she was in the bedroom and tried to read in the book he brought her a few days ago, but she could not concentrate. She tried to be in the kitchen and the dining-corner, yes, even in the bathroom, but there was no way to get calm, and she also had no nerves to continue with her experiments, although the skin cells of the potato-snail had already started to grow very well on the piece of cloth she had offered them. She was a big step closer to the protective suit.

But still nothing could distract her from the disaster that she had caused.

She seemed to be right with her bad feelings, because at the evening of the second day she witnessed something… _very bad_. It was so unbelievable, that she stopped dead next to the sofa and could only stare at the screen. It had switched itself on without her doing; she never had used it since two days.

There was no tone anymore, so she could not understand a word, but she could see the pictures. And all of them were happy! They were sitting in the living-room and had a good conversation… including the camera. The camera moved up and down, sometimes from side to side, to say no. They were all there; Bulla, Trunks, Vegeta, Bulma, Chichi, the twins. Now they were laughing, and even Trunks seemed to recover from his sorrows. He looked much better than two days ago. She could not believe it. _The mutant was using her camera moves to talk with her family._ What the heck did he tell them?

There was no doubt that they must think that it was Pan who was behind those camera-moves. Why did he do that? Surely he wanted to play a trick on them. But why did he make them feel _happy_? Why didn´t he try to scare them?

»Trunks!« Pan shouted at the TV. »No, listen all! This is not me! This is not me!« but of course they could not hear them. They all were in the middle of an evil plan. »Please… I do not talk to you… It is him… please!« But it was no use.

She could not stand it any longer and tried to switch off the screen at its fixed buttons, because she had no remote control any more, but her trembling fingers missed the button and she only switched channels. She got in channel Number 2, to her own house, and tried to wipe the tears off her face before she again tried to press the "Off" button. But she never did.

There was light in her house. In the first second she felt strange, but then she tried to convince herself that it only was the house keeper, and that it was cleaning day. But no… the strange feeling did not leave her. It was evening. The housekeeper never came in the evening.

Maybe burglars, who had noticed that no one was at home? Pan had no remote-control anymore, so she could not steer the camera round the house, she could only wait until perhaps someone would pass by. There were light flashes out of the living room. It was the TV, but of course also here everything was silent. The mutant had cut off her every audio signal, and also the possibility of flying round, so she could only wait, until someone would show up in the dinner room. Who was there? Once she could see a shadow moving on the alley between living- and dining-room, but no one entered.

But suddenly the main light of the dinner room was turned on, and a person entered.

It was a woman, but maybe one of the most beautiful women Pan had ever seen. She was not thin like a skin covered skeleton, but her body looked slender and somewhat athletic. Her waist-long hair that she had bound to a plait had the color of the sky at midnight; a very, very dark blue, and her skin was like ivory. She had sea-blue eyes and wore a casual outfit made of dark colors, with high boots.

She had a glass full of water in her right hand, in her left hand she carried… the small digital photo-frame of the living room. The pictures in that frame changed every minute, showing all the family members, and also several scenes out of their life; example given Pans and Trunks wedding day. The look at the strange woman´s face was not really friendly, it looked like as if she was appalled or somewhat disgusted by the photos.

»Put that away!« Pan yelled at the screen. »Who the heck are you!«

The strange woman looked directly to the camera at the wall, and one blink later there were no more pictures out of Pans house.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The heir is ready **

Suddenly everything changed. The situation started to get difficult, and maybe they would not get out of this unscathed. Gohan stood in front of his son. He was ready to attack or defend, if needed. Videl was at Son Urians other side, to shield the boy´s back. Step for step they tried to get back to the ship, but all of them were scared. Gohan was exhausted because of the many moves of defense he had done in the last minutes. They all wore masks to prevent the fine dust of the planet´s surface to get in their lungs, but now they were all breathing heavily, and the small protective shields were already blackened from dust. It was difficult to get enough fresh air through that layer of cloth and dust. They had only come here to look for a sending station, from which they thought that it was used to transmit the signal of the cameras. But this had been a trap, the thing exploded at the first sight and the shock wave of that explosion had attracted all this evil creatures.

They were only about four hundred steps away from the ship, but the distance could also be four hundred miles. It won´t be easy to get out here. The creatures were all around them. They looked like giant, black scorpions, with four red eyes on their heads. The moves of those animals were almost similar to what a scorpion on earth might also do, but they seemed to be much more intelligent. They swung their tails with the sting round and round, and had a very hard covered skin. Videls kicks and punches did not really hurt them, she only had a chance when she could reach one of the eyes, that made the creatures give way a little bit. But there were so many of them that there was no chance in escaping.

Gohan said: »Videl, you take Urian. I will distract them and you and our son fly to the space-ship. I will be close behind you.«

»But you are hurt, and the poison is strong. You can´t turn to Super-Saiyan!«

»Yes, I know.« Gohan held his arm. The sting of a scorpion had scratched him there, when he pushed Son Urian out of the way. »But I´d like you two to be in safety, then I can fight much more relaxed. I´ll fire a Kame-Hame-Ha, to scare them off, and you must go immediately. Prepare to fly, Videl.«

»Yes.« she answered.

Son Gohan kicked a stingy tail away, but that opened a space between him and his son, and another scorpion rushed forward. The animal caught the boy with one of its scissor-like front-claws, and was up to cut him in half as fast as possible. Gohan changed the direction of the Kame-Hame-Ha and shot it at the scorpion that held his son in its claws. Urian fell down and tried to free himself from the tight grip of the claw, but it was Videl who gathered her strength and kicked one part of the claw to pieces, so that she could get her son out of it. She started to fly with him towards the star-ship and Gohan made her way clear with another Ki-Shot.

»Gohan hurry! He´s severely hurt!« Videl cried, as soon as she had reached the entrance of the ship.

»Damn it.« Gohan cursed, and the wrath helped him to power up. He sent a big Masenko towards the space ship to open him a way beween the scorpion-like creatures, and followed the blast of energy immediately. One moment before he could close the door, another sting hit him in the right under-leg, it was not a deep wound, but he felt the poison in the very same second. His knee gave way an instant later and he would have had a bad fall, if Videl wouldn't have supported him.

»Gohan, please stay here with Urian, I need to go to the cockpit and start! If those pincers are as strong as I fear, they could damage the ship, so we might never fly again.« She slammed the door shut, whilst Gohan tried to get up on hands and one leg, to crawl closer to his son. Urian was really bad hurt and unconscious, but in this situation it was maybe better for him not to feel the pain.

Videl went upstairs to the cockpit and did everything to get away from here. Fortunately, the scorpions only cut off one of the landing feet with a mighty grip, but then they were free of those creatures and headed off into the starlit sky.

Gohan cried out: »Videl, we need to get to a planet! He needs a hospital! I am afraid that he´s broken ribs and one of them has dug itself in his lung… « he coughed. »He needs immediate surgery.«

Videl answered: »And you too, dear, you´ve been poisoned twice now. I see that we´ve got at least one piece of luck. The planet Pital is not far away. I will make contact to them. This is our only chance. Gohan? Do you hear me?«

He answered: »I am sorry, but you must take us to Pital alone, Videl. I am afraid that the poison is stronger than I expected. I think I won´t be able to help… you out here.«

»Don´t worry, Gohan, please just lie down, I will activate the automatic pilot and will be with you in a few minutes. We surely will get to Pital within the next five hours. Gohan?«

But he never answered, so she set the course with a grim expression on her face, and then she went downstairs, only to find her son and husband, both unconscious now. »Oh please, let us be at Pital soon enough.« she whispered.

:-:

It was still dead quiet, but nevertheless the Tsufurian mutant had come back to the house, this time without making any sound. He went towards Pan, who had fallen asleep at the sofa in the living-room. It was the potato-snail that warned her with a sharp, shrieking sound. That gave Pan one small moment to prepare to fight. Maybe this was not of much use, but he did not catch her sleeping, that was the most important thing. But something had changed in his smile. It was an unpleasant, intimidating grin. If Pan must really attack him now to fight for her life, she also would hurt or kill the host. Therefore she held back for an instant.

»What do you want here?« she asked him. »And still more important: What did you tell my family? How could you… make them look so happy, although there is nothing to be happy about? Why did you do that?«

He still smiled and explained: »Pan, there is no need to repeat to you, what I told them; but your eyes did not betray you. They are happy, they think that you are fine and that you tricked me out, and that you are close to escape. But… that is far away from the real thing. My heir is ready. Now I will need you.«

Pan laughed grimly and growled: »Never, you moron. Never.« But then she saw something that made her shiver to the bones. The TV-screen had shown a quiet late-morning-scene in Bulmas living-room until now; where Bulma had been cleaning up, but now Pan´s mother-in-law looked alarmed at the small camera. What was that? Did the camera do anything? _Or… could Bulma hear them all for a sudden_? What kind of new evil idea was that? And in the next moment Pan really had to fight for her life.

:-:

In the first second, Bulma thought that the TV or the radio in the living-room had been switched on, but here was no one here except herself. Then she recognized Pan´s voice. Why could she hear her now? Since two days Pan used to talk to them with the moves of the camera, that was a good thing for all, but why was there an audio transmission now? Was this kind of a new trick? But no, it was Pan, and… another person. A male, slightly rough and sharp voice. Was this her kidnapper? What the heck was going on?

»I know your secret.« the kidnapper said. »I figured out that you are able to talk to your family. This will stop this instant! From now on, you´ll have to do what I want. I warned you, if you ever dared to betray my trust in you, I am going to steer your body like a puppeteer. You cannot betray the last of the Tsufurians! I will take you now.«

»Try it, crazy mutant!« Pan´s voice yelled back.

Bulma let go of the broom that she had hold in her hand. She was shocked. Pan was in much greater danger than they ever thought of. How could she explain that to the others? And damn it, they must not hear this threatening conversation! Where was that speaker! She started to hit the place in the wall where the voices came from, with the edge of her broom, but it was no use, there was big trouble on the way. Exactly that moment, two different doors opened and two persons entered the living room.

One of them was Vegeta, who had a sandwich in his hand and was wondering because of the sudden madness that seemed to have befallen his wife. He watched her with an interested look at his face and stopped eating, but did nothing else.

The second person was Trunks, he had bags full of food with him, and said: »I am back from the market, mom… hey, what are you doing?«

»I try to kill a fly.« Bulma cried, but she knew very well that this situation would slip off her hands within the next seconds. As if she could prevent it, she hit the broom even harder against the wall. But then she stopped. The voices were back.

:-:

Pan noticed at once, that her family could hear them. Now they knew who her kidnapper was, and now… The end of all this was approaching. Nothing mattered anymore. It was either her or him now, and she surely would regret it later, but she could pay no attention to the host of the mutant. She must fight him. Now or never.

»Do what you have to do, mutant, but leave my family out of it!« she yelled. »Cut that audio transmission! Then I´ll do what you want.«

»Liar.« the Tsufurian said. »You´d never do what I want, unless I force you to. I have no wish to end that transmission to earth. I think this is really amusing, and part of my revenge. Let them listen to your last minutes.«

Out of the TV came Trunks´ panicked voice: »Who´s talking? This is Pan, right? And the other one? Her kidnapper? What does he want to do to her!«

Pan cast a look at the screen. Trunks had dropped the bags, Bulma had stopped dead with her broom held high, and Vegeta also looked stunned.

»I can´t understand you!« Pan cried. »You are so… cruel! How dare you to treat my family like this! Switch it off! I´ll attack you with everything I have, I promise!«

The mutant still smiled his own, evil grin: »No use, Pan, this is all in vain. I am ready with my research. The time has come, I will plant my heir into you, and you can´t do nothing against it. You will live as long as my heir needs you, then you die.«

Pan could not believe her ears: »You what? You really want to put something inside my body? This can´t be true… you´re kidding, aren´t you?«

»I am not kidding. Did you think I kept you so long only for fun? Jeez, you are funny! No. Of course I kept you, because you will be the perfect incubator.«

This was disgusting. »Don´t dare to…« she growled and looked again at the TV. What horrible thoughts must they have, only damned to listen to these words? But that one blink at the screen had been too risky.

The mutant was in front of her so fast, that she had almost no time to turn her head. He pushed her down with a mighty blow, and sat down on her lower chest. She could feel one of his hands at her neck, trying to throttle her, or at least cut her off some air. Her head hurt and was slightly swaying, because the attack had come so unexpected that she had had no time to rise her self defense.

»Let go!« she hissed, but her voice was weaker than she hoped. He did not leave her enough air to yell at him; she had to concentrate to breathe properly. The mutant held her tight. That was surely enough to enrage her. One, two, three… she tried to gather strength, but then she saw something very unpleasant, which made her stop in horror.

He had a closed glass-container in his hands, in which was a yellowish fluid. In the middle of that fluid there was an ugly object, that could not look more disgusting. It had about the form and size of a bean, and was grayish-lilac, covered with reddish lines. Those lines pulsed slightly, as if there was somewhere a heart that moved blood in the veins.

»This is my heir, and now you will have the great pleasure to feel it enter your body.«

»I warn you, don´t even try.« Pan said with difficulty.

He laughed: »What do you say Pan? You´re helpless, don´t you see?« He opened the glass and the thing in the fluid started to move somehow, like a fish that was eager to get back in the water. But this thing was eager to get in her body. Well, this was really disgusting!

»And you let go of me NOW!« Pan yelled again and kicked him as hard as she could. In the same move she hit the glass-container out of his hand and it smashed on the floor. Nevertheless that ugly thing did not stop to move, it started to crawl towards her head, moving like a dying fish, and approached her left ear… _No, never. Never, never, never!_ Pan yelped a sound of absolute dislike and kicked him again.

»Put it away!« she demanded.

The Tsufurian who was still sitting on her body, answered: »Don´t worry, it will be out of your sight in a minute or so… as soon as it is in you.«

Pan tried to get her head as far away from the small enemy as possible, but she was banned by the sight that she could catch from the TV. Everyone of them, even Vegeta, stared in shock. Trunks looked like as if he had not enough strength left to freak out. He was totally petrified in fear. They could not see her, not help her, nothing. This was mere torture!

Pan did not care for the glass splinters that were next to her and cut in her left hand, when she searched for hold at the floor, and then, with another cry, she got rid of the mutant, and was back at her feet.

The next minutes passed with a continuous, fast and hard fight. The mutant always tried to get her down next to his ugly, bean-like heir and of course she did not want to go down. Pan kicked, blocked, hit, rammed, dodged, and punched as hard as she could, but used no energy based attack, because she did not want to crack the cupola. The young Saiyan woman blocked his mighty blows, and for sure they bruised her, maybe one rib got cracked, maybe one piece of the glass table, in which she crashed at one point of the fight still stuck in her left upper arm, and made her bleeding like mad, she would never stop.

Every fighter on earth would have given up by now, because Pan was battling beyond reason, she was battling for her life and her blows were hard and merciless. But he was still smiling. What a guy! Whatever she did, it did not seem to affect him in any way. She got him bleeding after a hard blow against his jaw, but that did not matter to him, he still carried on…

»You see, you can do what you want. I am stronger. Give up.« he said.

Pan did not answer. She had no intention to talk now, she only growled and tried to fight him even harder, but it did not harm him… nothing! She started to get exhausted. He knew… he _knew_ that he´d bring her down soon.

But then Trunks said a single word, and this made the difference between winning and losing. »Pan?« his voice was weak, almost too soft to hear, but…

She could clearly feel how he suffered from this situation, and this was it. Her rage overwhelmed her, and something seemed to explode and get stronger in her body; an energy wave rushed through her, and the next moment she noticed something, that she never expected. She had reached Super-Saiyan-Level. Her hair was blonde and maybe her eyes green, she could not see that of course. But now, with that new power, she would overcome her enemy, he´d never win! She smiled and felt very superior, but… only for an instant.

The Tsufurian still smiled, and then he said: »Now you are there, where I wanted to push you all the time. That´s what I´ve been waiting for. Now you are mine.«

This second Pan realized it all. This mutant still wanted her body, and he could only take her when she was at her full power level… and all the things that he had done, the pictures from earth, this cruel audio transmission, giving her false hope and so on and so on… everything was only for one reason. He wanted to enrage her so much that she was capable of this transformation, and then…

The parasite separated from his host as a formless mass, and aimed for the wound at her upper arm, and Pan screamed, as she maybe had never done before. It was over.

:-:

Bulma was also crying, and tried to hold her ears with her hands, but that did not help. »Vegeta, stop it right now! I do not want to hear that anymore!«

The Saiyan did not hesitate; he raised his hand and smashed the whole wall into pieces, using a big Ki-Ball. It was dead silent now. Dust was floating through the air and small parts of concrete fell back to earth; the bright morning sun sent her light through the hole in the roof. They were coughing and tried to shield their eyes from the dust.

When the dust started to set down, Bulma turned to Trunks and hurried to his side. He was, like everything in the room, covered with dust and stood motionless. Bulma tried to support her son, because he looked like as if his knees would give way.

He pushed her hands away and asked: »What… happened?«

Vegeta answered: »Your mother did all the cleaning for nothing.«

»I guess you are right, Vegeta.« Bulma said.

Trunks gazed at them with a surprised look at his face, and they were smiling back at him. At least he was not totally stunned in shock anymore.

Then Bulma added: »Well, let´s go and find a room that is not damaged. I think we all need to sit down… and then I call a construction firm, to begin with the repairs.«

Chichi and the twins hurried closer from their rooms, when the three of them stepped at the corridor. Of course they wanted to know what had happened. The children went to look at the mess in the living room; and Bulma told Chichi what happened. Because of that, Chichi decided to go to the park with the twins, to let them play and distract them a little bit. Bulma nodded at this proposal, and went to the phone to call the construction workers.

:-:

Pan had crossed her arms in front of her face, an ultimate gesture of defense, and her eyes were closed. But then she recognized, that she could not hear anything around her, and that she felt well… not possessed or something. She lowered her arms and blinked.

But where was she now? And how did she come here? All around her there was a fine light green meadow that was full of flowers in the most different, but also light colors; pink, light-blue, yellowish, lilac, white, turquoise… The sky was lightly rose-colored, and white clouds were visible. A soft wind was blowing. Down in a small valley, to which that meadow was falling down, a rivulet of dark lilac color was floating. At the other side of that rivulet Pan could see trees with light-green colored leaves. All in all Pan had the impression that she was in the middle of a cotton-candy-world. The mutant was nowhere to be seen. She never cared how she came here, the only realistic possibility was Instant Transmission, maybe she had done it only because she had been a Super-Saiyan for one time, but… it never mattered.

She could still feel the hurting parts of her body, and reached out for the glass splinter that was still stuck in her left arm. It hurt like mad, but she pulled it out and fixed her belt over the wound to make it stop bleeding. Then she sat down, and finally she lay back into the smooth bed of grass and flowers. A few minutes later she was fast asleep.

:-:

The mutant yelped in shock, when his formless body mass smacked together without Pan in the middle of it. She was gone, but why? Why was she gone? He retreated into the body of the male Feruccian again and looked at the TV screen. There was only snow. Hm. Something here was wrong. Something had happened; that he had not foreseen. He was so deep in thoughts, that he paid no attention the potato-snail.

The little animal had started to eat up his very important experiment-result. The potato-snail was chewing hard, and the "heir" did not move anymore. Disappointed, that there was no more food, the potato-snail left the house. The animal knew very well that Pan was not here anymore, and that it was not welcomed now. There won´t be anyone who would feed it, therefore the potato-snail planned, never to come back.

When the mutant realized, that his heir had disappeared and that he had lost his most important prisoner, he cursed like mad. Now he had to start all over again. But at least she had left him some blood-traces. He collected some glass splinters that had Pans blood on them, then he set fire in the house on Planet Senicar. He left the house with Instant Transmission, before the oxygen-tanks in the cellar started to explode. No one else noticed, what happened. The dense atmosphere of the Planet shielded it all.

:-:

The doorbell rang out, and the entrance guard to Bulmas big house announced, that someone wanted to speak to the family.

»Strange, I called the construction company only one hour ago.« Bulma wondered. »I never expected, that they´d be that fast.« she sighed. »But maybe it is because we are the owners of Capsule Corp, and they want to make themselves look good.«

Nine construction-workers entered the building and were guided upstairs by the entrance guard. This male guard was working for the Briefs for a long time now, and he never wondered when something exploded, crashed or… whatever. He was used to Vegetas training and the gravity chamber, the space-ship hangar and so on, and he never asked improper questions. But now he was worried about Pans kidnapping too, and he dared it to ask Trunks about it.

»Is there something new, Sir? I mean… about your wife.«

»No.« Trunks answered at low voice.

»I am so sorry.« the guard replied and went back down to the entrance, but when he arrived there, another person wanted to speak to them, but that visitor asked for the "Saiyans" this time; and not for the Brief-family. He called Bulma again, but this time Vegeta picked up the phone, and he was surprised that some stranger might know, who they were. That was suspicious. So he went downstairs to have a look.

When Vegeta arrived in the big entrance hall, the strange woman immediately turned to him, as if she had sensed him coming. Vegeta looked at her. She was very attractive, her midnight-blue hair shimmered in the sunlight, as if a thousand little stars were in it. She was of average tallness for a woman, and clad in a casual, almost uniform-like looking outfit. And she was definitely _more_ than a human.

»Who are you?« Vegeta asked.

She replied: »As far as I know, you must be Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans.« and with that words, she bent one knee and knelt down in front of him.

»Please rise, woman…« Vegeta was really embarrassed. Since a very long time no one had greeted him like this. When she stood up again, he noticed the silver-furry belt she was wearing, and in the same second he knew that this was a tail. This woman was a Saiyan, but she had a silver instead of a brown tail. Where by all means did she come from?

He invited her with a gesture: »Please follow me upstairs.«

»Yes. Thank you.« she replied.

When they reached the private part of the house, they found the door still open. The workers were running in and out to get the material for the reconstruction of the living room in, and the broken things out. They had placed a plastic foal on the floor to protect the carpet, and it really looked and smelled like a construction site now.

The strange woman asked: »What´s going on here?«

»Some mishap.« Vegeta explained, avoiding a direct answer.

Bulma came closer and said: »Chichi phoned. She arrived in the park with the twins, and I told her to stay, out as long as the workers need, so that the kids don't see the mess… Who is that?« she looked at the stranger. »Is this the new guest, that the guard announced?«

»Yes, she is. Let us sit down in the dining room please, I will bring Trunks.«

»I am here already.« the younger man said, and stepped out of the construction site, that had former been the living room. »I heard mum say, that we´ve got a visitor?«

The young Saiyan woman turned to him and asked: »So you are the son of Prince Vegeta? Let me pay you my regards.« she made a deep bow in front of Trunks, but did not kneel down again.

»Strange behavior.« Bulma said. »But please come. Be invited to have some tea with us.« then she also noticed the tail, the younger woman had. »You are Saiyan?«

»Not entirely.« the guest answered. »All two of my grandmothers were human.«

Vegeta demanded: »This is enough of that odd talking now. Let us go to the dinner room, and then you´ll explain yourself.«

The four of them crossed the corridor to take the other door to the dining room, and Bulma started to make tea. Trunks did not seem to be very interested in that new conversation, but he was there – to do his parents a favor.

The young Saiyan woman with the strange, silver tail began: »Well, there is not much to explain. My name is Kori, and I am twenty-one years old. I was raised by my uncle, and never met other Saiyans before – I hardly ever met _anybody_ who looked like you, or the humans that live on earth. My uncle and I lived on Moru, which is a small, machine dominated, high technology planet far out in this Galaxy. He sent me back here, to… well, let´s say, to meet you. He said, I would be needed here. Not now, but later, but we could not wait any longer, and the transport only works for years, not for moths or days, that would have been too difficult. I learnt everything I knew from him, and he is the only person whom I entirely trust. So please don´t be offended, if I hold back some secrets from you.«

»That's understandable.« Bulma said. »If you had only him, to replace you a whole family… We always thought no other Saiyans have survived the explosion of Planet Vegeta.«

Vegeta wanted to know: »Who are your parents? How did they escape the disaster of our home planet? Why did they leave you with your uncle? Is your uncle also a Saiyan?«

Kori answered: »My parents? I do not know them. They are both dead, and I cannot remember them, so I do not suffer. My uncle is not really related with me. He´s been a friend of my mother, but he is no Saiyan. I grew up at his place and when I was old enough, he told me, what I have to do…«

Trunks was the only one at the table, who did not listen, but right now he startled a little bit and got up. »Sorry, that I leave, but I have got something to do. You tell me everything later, okay? Nice to have met you… Kori.« Then he started off, right out of the window, without looking back.

Vegeta looked after him with doubt: »I hope that he´s not going to make trouble.«


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Is this **_**Romeo and Juliet**_**? **

Trunks saw no other possibility. Maybe it was because of the shock, that he could not think clearly, but all in all, it was a good idea. The knowledge that the Tsufurian mutant was Pans kidnapper had upset them all. In a short moment he recalled the happenings of that awful morning, and all of that only supported his decision.

With the greatest amount of dislike Bulma had passed on that information to the two space ships, right after she had called the construction workers; and of course they were all plagued with sorrows now. By the way, it was no help to know the identity of the kidnapper. He could still be elsewhere in the universe.

Goten and Shane had visited more than twenty planets or solar systems in the meantime, and were very exhausted. No one had seen or even heard from a kidnapped Saiyan. They needed a short break, or they would get a burn out.

Gohan and his family had been severely hurt when they followed a false track to the Planet of the Scorpions. They needed recovery at Pital. At least the doctors there had some information about a strange illness, that had gone through the Galaxy and wiped out the lives on some planets; but that had been years ago. Maybe that was one track the Tsufurian left when he tried do get stronger again, but this track was cold now. Gohan and Urian still needed treatment, the poison of the black scorpions had been very strong, and after that, Videl wanted do go back to earth to leave Urian with his grandmother Chichi, to protect him from getting hurt once again. They would lose more than three, maybe even four weeks. That was much too long… everything could happen in that time.

So Trunks had had the good idea to talk to Goku. Maybe Son Goku could make a contact to the Kaioshin; he had been on their planet twice, and trained with them. To be honest, trying to get contact to Goku was the only thing that they hadn´t tried yet. But to talk to Goku he had to get somewhere close to him. Trunks assumed that Goku had been taken to heaven by Shenron, because it was unlikely that Pan´s grandfather had been banned in hell.

But how to get to heaven? Or at least to a place, where someone knew where Goku or one of the Kaioshin currently was? At first he had asked Dende for advice, but the Namekian did not really know where Shenron might have taken Goku.

»It never before happened, that a Holy Dragon sets off with another being.« Dende, the Namekian "god of earth" had explained. »Although I made these Dragon Balls, I do not know where they go, when they disappear. I cannot help you, Trunks. I still try to contact the Kaioshin, or Master Kaio, or anyone out there, but they won´t answer.«

Trunks had not left Dende´s palace then. He knew from his training as a child that the Namekian kept some interesting fluids downstairs, in the cellar of the palace. Not much later he found a little glass bottle in a closed cupboard. The little amount of green liquid inside the bottle was a very strong poison, and if this was the only way to get to heaven, he would do it. Without hesitating or any more think-about-it he swallowed the poison and…

For a few moments it was only dark. He did not know for sure what exactly had happened to him, it was unpleasant, though… but then he could see again. Or couldn´t he? The place where he was, was very bizarre. It was neither a room nor a landscape, neither a sky nor a real floor. There was no end into any direction, and all was dark. There were only two kind of darker planes, one above, symbolizing somewhat of the sky, and one below, that could be the floor, because Trunks was able to stand there; there must be at least a little amount of gravity. But he was as lonely as one could be.

»Um, hello?« he called. »May I talk to someone?« he wrinkled his brow. His voice seemed to disappear into eternity. »I want to talk to Son Goku please! Could anyone tell me where I am? Hello!« His voice was never echoing, and there was no reply, no sound, no noise, just silence, silence, and silence again. Something was clearly wrong here.

Just in that second the elder Kaioshin, who now carried a shining halo over his head, appeared in front of him. »What do you do here!« the old man Kaioshin yelled. »Have you gone crazy? This is not written by Shakespeare!« He gathered speed with his hand and slapped Trunks at the right side of his face. Immediately after that really confusing act he disappeared again.

Trunks was still puzzled, when the younger Kaioshin appeared. Without saying any word, the highest keeper and god of the galaxy stepped closer and greeted Trunks with a mighty left-side-slap. He had more power than the elder Kaioshin and shouted: »Idiot!«

»Ouch, that hurt!« Trunks protested. »I always thought you don´t feel anything when you are in heaven.« he cleared his throat. »Am I in heaven? And may I have a talk to Son Goku please? I thought he´d be happy to see me again, and I thought that he could help me.«

»So you _thought_, yes?« the Kaioshin was still furious. »Well, then I have to tell you that _thinking_ sometimes is not really your best talent, especially when you are worried! You are not in heaven, nor in hell, you are not even anywhere! This here is the _Nowhere_! This is a place where exactly no one is allowed to be, you understand? Even I have problems to be here! By the way, I must tell you that you are not dead – not yet, I mean. Your father found you and you are in a hospital now. They try to save your life.«

The Kaioshin took a deep breath, then he continued: »You want to meet Son Goku? Why? And why did you have that silly idea! Poison! Man! Someday I´ll freak out with you… Saiyans. Half-Saiyans. Whatever.« He counted to ten to calm down, then he spoke again to the unwelcomed visitor: »Now Trunks, would you be so good to tell me, what happened?«

Trunks sighed and began: »It is because of Pan, she´s been kidnapped and we try to find her, but her Aura is shielded. Dende said, that you do not make contact with earth, because all of you think that it is better that way. He did not know how to reach you, but thankfully I meet you now, I want to ask you, if you can find Pan. And I assume, Goku also should know. Maybe he has an idea. If you know something, we might find her faster, and I can go to pick her up or one of the others…«

The Kaioshin growled: »Where do you think, that you are, Trunks? This is not an "I-come-for-a-short-visit-and-then-I-go-again" place. Do you mistake this as some kind of coffee shop or anything like that? Trunks, you must understand, this is the Nowhere, and it is almost impossible to leave again – no matter in which direction you go.« he sighed deeply. »But I see that this is very important to you, and why you had this idea. It is completely idiotic, but…at least it was an idea. Would you please wait here, I will go and get Goku here. He´s not actually in heaven or in hell, he went with earth´s Holy Dragon on a long trip. And it is also not easy for him to come here… the Nowhere is a forbidden dimension. So let us hope that I can make it possible.« Before he could disappear, the Kaioshin added: »But be warned, no one likes such news. Goku will also be angry with you.«

The next moment, Trunks was alone again, and he started to get really nervous. What if the Kaioshin was right? What if he couldn't go back? Would Goku find a way to talk to the rest of the family to tell them where Pan was?

When the Kaioshin returned, he had Son Goku with him. Pan´s grandfather was in his grown up body again, but he still seemed no older than he was, when he had his Super-Saiyan-Four body. »Would you please?« he asked the Kaioshin and grabbed over his head, where a ring of shining light was hovering. Goku handed the halo over to the puzzled Kaioshin, then he approached to Trunks and greeted him with a sharp right uppercut.

This blow was so strong that Trunks stumbled backwards a few steps. »Gosh, Goku!« he protested. »Why did I deserve that one? Couldn´t you just say… _Hello_?«

Goku shouted: »Good Gracious, Trunks, you do not know that? I mean, look at you, and where you are. You must not be here! Have you ever thought of how you´ll get back?«

»But you did it twice, as I remember.« Trunks replied.

Goku was still furious: »But this is no reason, man! You are only Half-Saiyan and… I still can´t believe it. You couldn´t have done anything more stupid than that. And I always thought that you are the most intelligent of all my friends.« He took a deep breath. »Now tell me what this all is for, before we start to argue.«

As soon as Trunks had explained everything, Gokus rage had settled down a little bit. He had got no news from earth for a longer time and did not know that Trunks and Pan were married, nor that Valese had another son, and so on and so forth. »Chichi.« he snarled. »She could have called me, really. Doesn´t she know that I want to get the news too?« He sat down at the floor and seemed to be really disappointed. »Didn´t she ever think of, that I´d be interested in such things? I mean, I hardly know about Goten´s wedding with Valese, and about Merve and Urian, because she did not call, and I only heard Valeses grandmother in heaven talk about it, when I was there for a visit. But I never know that Bulla married and has two children, and that I have another little grandchild, and, that you and Pan… did Gohan hit you when you asked him for her hand? Well, that´s funny. Chichi could really have called. The master of heaven and earth would have connected me for sure.«

Trunks was confused: »One can _call_ in heaven? Like with a _phone_?«

Goku answered: »Yes of course, what do you think? That heaven is far behind the moon or something? We got one call free per year, but only if we left a very beloved person behind; and of course that person must know where the telephone is. It only works until the soul is ready to be reborn, but mine is still here... Oh, Chichi, why haven´t you called me? Those women! Did she expect me to wait for news, until she also comes to heaven? I am sure that Dende would have allowed her that call.«

»Dende?« Trunks was still stunned. »The phone is at god´s palace?«

Goku nodded, but still sat on the floor with a grim face. The Kaioshin returned him his shining halo and the small light ring took back its place over Gokus head.

»Dende´s got a phone in his palace to call heaven?« Trunks still could not believe it. »Why didn´t he tell me?«

»Maybe because you did not ask.« The Kaioshin replied with a smile. »But back to the Pan-problem. We need to hurry, we cannot stay in the Nowhere for a long time. Whilst you were talking, I tried to sense her, but there is really no sign.«

Goku nodded: »I do not sense her too, but that does not mean anything. I cannot feel the Tsufurian mutant either. They must be very well hidden. And if you can´t sense her, Kaioshin, it would be useless if I try again. There is maybe a chance… Shenron told me about it on our journey, when we finally had talked about all other things. You surely know what I mean, but… I do not know if I am allowed to… talk about it. What do you think, Kaioshin?«

The keeper of the galaxy sighed: »I do not know. I must think about all that is put at stake if we choose that possibility; and how low the chances are…«

Trunks asked: »What kind of possibility! What is more important than Pan? And only imagine that this mutant gets what he wants, that he…« he gulped and a shudder ran through him. He needed a few seconds to be capable of continuing: »That he plants his heir into her body and uses her as a kind of incubator for a creature that is…a mix of Saiyan and Tsufurian, or… whatever. I cannot stand the thought of it… that he touches her…«

Goku nodded: »He´s got a point there. If that creature was ever born, it is very likely that you can forget your galaxy, Kaioshin.«

»Well, right.« the keeper of the galaxy said. »Even I do not know what happens, if Saiyans and Tsufurians fuse. And top of it all, this creature will be the result of an experiment, constructed by a mad scientist. It would be dangerous enough if this _Tsujyan_ would exist because of natural fusion, I mean… having mother and father, but…ouch.« He took a deep breath. »In any way Goku, you are not allowed to go back to earth; neither living nor dead. You swore that to Shenron when you left with him. If you want to go back to the dimension of the living, you must go to another planet; but you would still be dead. Maybe you could go to Namek or Yardrat. I could arrange that with the master of heaven and hell. But there is still another problem. Pans Aura will still be untraceable, and you do not have any possibility to call Shenron, or Polunga. You would have only one chance… there is one single set of Dragon Balls – or _kind of_ Dragon Balls – that have not been over-used within the last one-hundred years. You spoke of them, am I right, Goku?«

Trunks asked: »What do you mean by saying _kind of_ Dragon Balls? Are they Dragon Balls, or are they not? And what are they, if they are not Dragon Balls?«

Goku nodded to answer the Kaioshin, but he did not know an answer to Trunk´s questions. He said: »They are called Dark Heart Dragon Balls and are kept in the heart, the center of the galaxy. They are all together there, and they kind of wait for someone to come to them and asks them for a wish.«

»They _wait_?« Trunks was bewildered. »You do not have to search for them?«

The Kaioshin replied with stern voice: »No. I told you that they are different from all the others. They are green and do not carry stars in them, but from one to seven spheres, that are kind of stapled one in another. The center sphere is pitch black, there the name comes from. They are not made by the Namekians – at least not because they wished it to. They were born when the ancestor of the Dragon-Tribe was ripped in a good and a bad part – the good part fused with the first "Oldest of the Namekians", the bad part… turned into those Dragon Balls. They are the keeper of the Dragon of the Black Chaos, and therefore they are sealed in the center of the galaxy. They are treacherous. The dragon appears and grants one wish, but he also takes a price for it… and most times the price, the sacrifice, is too big to pay. If you try to betray him and don´t tell him what you are going to sacrifice him, he will take something that _he_ choose, as soon as he granted the wish. And he could take everything, one single life, or a whole solar system, theoretically even heaven or hell.«

Trunks replied: »He may take me, if he needs a sacrifice. I only want that Pan is safe; nothing else matters. What do we discuss for? We need to go to that place, find the dragon and everything will be fine, and Pan is back with us. That´s what we all want, isn´t it?«

Goku remembered his younger friend: »But there is some difficulty. As long as you are stuck here, you can´t come to Namek to pick me up, and my sons are too far away. It would cost them too much time to make the detour back to Namek. Gosh, Trunks, if you´d had only phoned me before you did such a… stupidity.«

Trunks was kind of nerve racked now: »No one ever told me about that phone, Goku!« he sighed. »Let us start to think about how I can get back now… slowly this Nowhere is starting to get exhausting.«

The Kaioshin was concerned: »This is because your body is weak… you are dying, Trunks… that is bad. You got that poison from gods palace, right? Dende is furious! But nevertheless the super-holy-water may help you… at least we can try, it neuters every known illness or poison. I will look after that.« He was gone with a small flash.

Goku said: »Okay, Trunks, get well, and please hurry to pick me up at Namek. I am eager to see that Dragon of the Black Chaos. See ya.« and he was gone too.

Trunks stood in the Nowhere alone, and it was dead quiet. Somehow that surrounding seemed to get even more unpleasant now, it looked dense, somewhat misty, as if the "sky" and "earth" of that place had started to melt one in another.

But then suddenly the picture Trunks could see changed. At first it was dim and misty, like a grayish white, but then he noticed that he could see the white roof of a hospital room. It must be night, because only a dim light was on and the other lights that he could distinguish came from the monitors of the medical equipment. He could feel an oxygen mask at his face, and he still felt the hurts where the uppercuts and slaps had hit him.

The Kaioshin was next to his bed and said: »You were not able to drink the holy water, so I mixed it up with that infusion. It seems to work, but slowly. And be warned, Dende is really mad at you and probably next time you meet him he´s gonna strike you with a handful of lightning. That´s triple holy water, by the way… you got to thank Popo too. He knew where the old god hid that water. You need to recover… take care.« With these words the Kaioshin went away by Instant Transmission.

Trunks knew very well that his body was still too weak to do what he wanted, but he felt better with every drop of the holy water. The only thing he could do was wait, but that was not easy. Exactly in the same moment, when he thought that he was able to get up, he tried it, and removed the oxygen mask. _I can take a rest again as soon as I am on the way to Namek_. One of the medical computers tried to beep an alarm, but ere the machine could do his second wail, Trunks pulled out the main plug. All of the monitors went dark; not a single one of the surveillance computers had a chance to react and to call for a doctor.

And Trunks, who had put on his clothes in a hurry, had no chance to leave the room. As soon as he had opened the door a little bit, a mighty left uppercut sent him back into the room where he had tried to escape from. Trunks found himself next to the bed again and sat down at its edge immediately… that blow had been breath-taking.

»And everything else is ok inside your head, is it?« Vegeta growled at him with sepulchral voice. He tried to stay calm but the undertone in his voice and his still shaking left hand spoke another language. He was dead serious. »Trunks, never dare to scare me like this again.« He sighed. »Can you imagine what Dende and I went through when we found you? Have you lost your mind? Why did you do that? We are not playing Romeo and Juliet here… be happy that the Kaioshin brought you back here.«

»You know that the Kaioshin was here?«

»Of course I know. Do you think that I am blind and deaf? But now Trunks, by all means, tell me why you did that! You almost ended up in the hereafter.« Vegeta sat down on a chair next to the bed.

Trunks explained: »That´s exactly the place where I wanted to go, but unfortunately I took a wrong short cut and got to a place called Nowhere. Not nice there, really – it was like "happy slapping day" at first. But I met Goku; that was why I went… I wanted to talk to him. And please do not forget, I also met the Kaioshin. But neither Goku nor the Kaioshin know something about Pan, and she´s not arrived in heaven or hell, so she is still alive. Goku wants to come with me, I shall pick him up at Namek, and then we go to the center of the galaxy to find the Dark Heart Dragon Balls. They can allow us one big wish.«

Vegeta nodded: »That´s enough talking for the moment. I´ll come with you too. I definitely don't want to leave all the fun to Kakarott. There is no danger to earth right now, even if the mutant was successful, it would need some time ere his heir is ready to be a threat for us. Let us go, you can continue your explanations as soon as we are on the way.«

When they left the room together, Trunks could see that almost everyone was here now. Valese and Merve tried to calm them down with a crossword puzzle. Even Yamchu and Pool had come back from the desert. Bulla and the twins were sleeping on a long bench, Krillin and Marron tried to stay awake with coffee, and C 18 smiled a little bit when she saw that Trunks was walking on his own. Oob and his wife waved at him and Chichi had tears in her eyes. Bulma jumped to her feed and Trunks startled – he had definitely got enough hits and blows within the last time. But Bulma was not up to slap him, she only embraced her son and sobbed a little bit, but she said nothing else.

Back in the shadows, a little bit separated from the family and the closer friends, there was the young Saiyan Kori; she did not mess up with the family affairs, but the tip of her tail was twitching, like that of a nervous cat. Bulma waved her closer, when Vegeta started to explain what they wanted to do now. A few moments later everyone was informed.

Bulla proposed: »You can use that space-ship demonstration model, at our head-quarter of the East Coast Capital. It is fully equipped, but not entirely new. I instructed them to use the vehicle as a publicity-gag. Even Shane once made a short space flight with two of our top-investors. Maybe it will need a little bit of cleaning too. It must be already noon in the East Coast capital, I phone them immediately.« She took out her mobile phone.

Trunks nodded: »Good idea, sister.« Then he turned to his friends: »I thank you all for coming. I am happy that I got so many good friends who hurry together to support me with their thoughts and presence, if needed.« he smiled. ».«

Then he turned to the new person in the round: »Your name is Kori, right? I think I must apologize to you. I have been very rude with you. I was so lost in thoughts that I did not really listen to your story. Would you mind much to tell it to me again?«

Kori shook her head: »No, I do not mind. But… is it possible, that we leave this hospital? I feel a little bit uneasy in hospitals.«

»Like my friend Goku.« Trunks laughed, and this was maybe for the first time since Pan was gone. »He´s my wife´s grandfather, by the way. He hates hospitals and… needles.«

Bulma proposed: »Let us go home, the house is already fixed.«

Trunks asked: »It is ready? How long have I been unconscious?«

»Two and a half days, son.« Vegeta explained.

»I am sorry.« Trunks said at low voice. »I never meant to scare you.«

Krillin asked: »May 18, Marron and I come along to see the space ship depart?«

Bulma answered: »Of course you can, but we need some time to get it here from the East Coast Capital. I´ll call you as soon as we are ready for take-off.«

:-:

When Pan woke up, she felt relaxed and rather good, but she was in a new surrounding again. It was not a threatening look, the room was small, square, and her bed was cozy. Someone had taken care of her left hand, she could see white bandages wrapped around it, and the deep cut on her shoulder also felt cleaned and treated.

As soon as she had opened her eyes, a human-like alien came closer to her bed. It was an old woman with white hair that she half hid under a headscarf. Her ears were big and pointed, as those from Namekians, but her skin was a tender rose color. She had grey eyes and wore a light-green dress. »Nice to see you awake, stranger.« the old woman said friendly. »Don´t be afraid, you are safe. My husband found you at our meadow. You must have been very exhausted, because you slept for almost two days. I do not ask where you came from, but you look like as if you had to fight to stay alive. Please feel welcomed.«

Pan replied: »Thank you so much for helping me. I feel really good now. But may I ask a question? You are not human, why do you know my language? Where am I?«

The old woman smiled: »I´ve learnt your language years ago from visitors. My husband also knows it, but the younger ones will not understand you. Please don´t be astonished, that only the old people are able to talk to you. My name is Adan, my husband is called Tomam. This is the Planet Thaioshti, and our village is called Relenni.«

Pan sat up and asked: »Is it possible to send a message to earth from somewhere? It is important…« all for a sudden she felt upset now. »Really important.«

Adan shook her head: »I am sorry, this is not possible, girl. We do not have contact to other planets, nor do we have space ships that would allow you to go home. In earlier times, when I was as young as you are, we had all this, but this is long gone. Our dictator forbade all of that for civilians. You cannot communicate with other planets from here.«

Pan started to cry: »Then they won´t know that I am fine… they won´t know where I am and that I escaped… I am so worried for them… I… want to tell them that I am ok.«

Adan smiled sympathetically and said: »I believe you. When you were sleeping, you sometimes talked, or cried out for someone… for Trunks or your mother, your father… I am so sorry. I would do anything to help you, but there is no possibility. But you also said that they are searching for you.«

»Yes, they are. They would never give me up.« Pan still sobbed.

»Well, there you got it. They will find you here, sooner or later.« the old woman said.

Pan thought about something: »The Kaioshin could sense my Aura everywhere. Maybe he could guide them here.«

Adan was terrified now; she seemed to be gravely frightened: »No, please… hide your Aura or anything that may tell anyone, that you are here. Please! Our king does not like strangers on his planet, and he would kill you and kill all in this village… please. I know that you want to find your family, but please…«

Pan tried to comfort her: »I did not know that. If it is thus dangerous, I will suppress my presence, of course. In time, I will find a way to tell my family that I am alive and ok. Don´t worry, Adan, please.« She smiled. »My name is Pan, if I didn´t mention that before. May I stand up now?«

»If you want, you can go to the bathroom, but I´d like you to lie down again afterwards. I will prepare you some food and tea. Your bruises will hurt for sure and the healer of our village said, that one of your ribs is broken. It is better for you to stay in bed… « the old woman, Adan, smiled. »It is better for you both, if you stay in bed for a while.«

»Hm.« Pan replied. »What do you mean, better for both of us? I am here alone.«

Adan was surprised: »Now don´t tell me that you do not know.«

»Know what?« Pan was still wondering.

»You are pregnant, girl. Therefore you must be really cautious.«

:-:

The sky was beginning to get grey, when they arrived at home. Chichi helped Vegeta to get the sleeping twins to their beds, so that Bulla and Bulma had time to phone with the Capsule Corporation building in the East Coast Capital. The chief of the branch-building promised to send the space-ship to the Western Capital without any more waiting, so the two women went outside to prepare the hangar, that was next to the house. There were still some start-checks to make before that ship was ready to go to a longer space-flight, and they wanted to do that in their own hangar.

Trunks sat down in the living room; he did not want to admit how exhausted he was only because of the short way from the hospital back home. He was far from being well, and Kori seemed to notice that. But she smiled and he knew somehow that she would keep the secret for herself. No one must know that he could hardly stay upright.

»You said that you were raised by your uncle?« Trunks asked the young woman.

»Yes.« she replied. »I never knew my parents, therefore I cannot answer all the questions your father asked me. I do not know if my father and mother escaped the explosion of planet Vegeta, or if they maybe were already light-years away when it happened. But one thing I know, I am not a full-blood-Saiyan, neither a Half-blood. I am somewhat close to three quarters Saiyan, and one quarter human… my uncle said this is, because all two of my grandmothers; my father´s, as well as my mother´s mother; were humans.«

Trunks supposed: »So your two grandfathers must have been Saiyan, and took human wives, yes? But from the tales of _my_ father I know that only Nappa, Radditz and he ever came to earth; with the exception of Goku, who grew up here. And they never had women… well, maybe they had, or maybe not… maybe there was still another Saiyan who came to earth, but did not fight with the others, because he didn´t see any reason in it. It does not matter, does it? You are here now, and this is far more important.«

Kori smiled: »Yes, I am here now…«

»But what for?« Trunks wanted to know.

»My uncle said that I would be needed here, but he knew very well that it could maybe change everything. Whatever I do, it will have an effect. It will influence and after all also bend history in some way. Maybe this was his reason…«

»Sounds familiar.« Bulma, who had entered the room, said. »We once had some kind of similar story where my future son came back to help us to change history. But you do not seem to know what will happen, do you? Did your uncle tell you what you need to do?«

»He did not tell me what to do; my orders were to come here, search for the Saiyans on earth and talk to them. And I do not know what´s gonna happen, because I was much too little when it started. I think my mother my uncle went to some shelter. I grew up knowing that something was… _not right_, but I never met that evil. My uncle protected me as if I was his own child. He would never let anything happen to me. Maybe this is the real reason why he sent me here. Our time was running out. Maybe he only wanted me to survive. I think he… kind of did it for my mother. They must have been good friends.«

Bulma asked: »Was he with your mother, when you were born?«

She sighed. »Yes, I think so. Once, when I was old enough to understand, my uncle told me how my mother passed away. So he must have been with her, otherwise he wouldn´t know, I assume. He said that she died not long after I was born. Her heart was broken, because my father had forgotten to love her, and she got very, very ill. I feel so sorry for my mother; and I cannot understand my father… how could anyone just _forget_ his love? I would rather prefer to _die_ than to lose the remembrance of my loved ones. Fortunately he is also dead, because I do not know what I had done if I had ever met him.«

Trunks was the same opinion: »Yes… That must be awful.« Unwillingly, he yawned.

Bulma said: »It is almost morning, Trunks. They will be here with the ship soon. It would be better if you´d get some sleep now, because Bulla and I would need you in the hangar as soon as they arrive.« She turned to the young woman: »Kori, you can use any free guest room that you like. You have also had a few rough days, I think. After we´ve rested, we can talk again. You are invited to stay, if you like.«

»Thank you, Mrs. Briefs.« Kori answered.

No one protested; everyone wanted to get a few hours of sleep now. There was a lot of work coming up and they needed all possible strength.

When the space-ship was ready to start, Trunks felt a little bit disappointed, but he understood very well why his parents had let him sleep. Hours had passed since they had the space-ship in the hangar, and it had been Bulma, Bulla, Chichi and Kori who packed up all the things that Vegeta and Trunks might need on their journey. Dusk was shimmering on the horizon, when the both of them closed the door of the space ship.

It was neither big nor too small; had three floors and a good cockpit with three places. All in all it was an improved model of that space-ship Trunks, Pan and Goku had used years ago on their Galaxy Tour. Every one of their friends had come here to wish them farewell, and they were now watching the launch. When the space-ship disappeared out of sight, they went back to the house, to spend the evening with the remaining family members.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Adan and Tomam **

Pan felt much better now. It was the sixth day that she spent at the house of her two new friends. The old woman, Adan, of course allowed her to leave the bed now whenever she wished to, and Pan had met Tomam, her husband. The old man had, like all male individuals on this planet, a slightly yellowish skin-tan. His hair was bright white and he had a thick beard. Most times he wore light-blue clothes, that fit with his eyes. His face was lined and he used a walking-stick, but he still worked a lot in the little house. He fed the house-animals, chopped wood for the fireside, or did small repairs.

Pan had started to assist the two old people wherever she could, because she wanted to thank them for their help, but she had to admit that her bumps and bruises, and also the cracked rib, still hurt a lot. Therefore Adan only bade her to take care of the chicken-like creatures that lived in a great cage at one side of the house-garden.

»As soon as your body has fully recovered, you may help Tomam with the bigger repairs of the house, Pan. But until that time you will slow down a little bit.« Adan told her. She took care of Pan like as if she was her new grandchild.

And the young woman felt welcomed at the place of the two old people. She had already told them what had happened to her, and while doing so she also learnt to live with that story. They had talked about Pans family and how they had met the Tsufurian the first time. Adan and Tomam understood very well now that Pan wished for nothing more than a possibility to talk to her loved ones.

They had also had time to talk about the planet´s dictator. Pan knew now, that an alien race, who called themselves "the Tribe" had landed on this planet about fifty years ago. They had come with all their space ships, with their whole fleet and weapons so strong that the old inhabitants of Thaioshti had no possibility of defense. They had occupied the planet as their own and kind of enslaved all the former inhabitants. No one was allowed to have a space-ship or any other communication system, that may be able to reach another planet, because the dictator did not want to risk that they would call for help. All of the Thaioshtians now paid taxes to the superior "Tribe"- people who had settled down here.

»I do not like such people.« Pan said. »As soon as I am fit again, I will have a closer look at them. You helped me, maybe I can help you. Maybe I am able to end that enslavement of your planet.«

Adan advised: »You do not know what you put at stake, if you go close to them. They´ve got an army and you are all alone. We ain´t got no weapons, not even for self defense. Please be careful. Do not risk too much. We all have learnt to live as slaves.«

Pan sighed: »But that´s not a good life! Everyone deserves freedom. And, by the way, maybe they have a communication system at their palaces, so that I can talk to my family. But don´t be afraid. I surely won´t do anything that endangers you or your people. Maybe I´ll just have a short look at them first.« She smiled. »My grandfather always said that you need to know your opponent ere you can fight him properly. If I cannot do it alone, we wait for my family, and we will finish him off all together.«

Tomam also smiled now: »I like your way of thinking, young Saiyan. And yes, I know your people. They were great warriors, and, to be honest, we used to be afraid of them. But as I was informed, your home planet was destroyed and there are no more Saiyans.«

Pan explained: »Sorry, I maybe missed that in my tales… My grandfather and the father of my husband were the last surviving Saiyans; with them two others, but they died when they tried to attack earth… well that one is a little rough story, because the father of my husband once was with those two Saiyans, up to attack earth. Vegeta learnt to love earth with time, and now he´s well… my father-in-law. My own father was born as a Half-Saiyan because my grandmother is a human woman. Also Bulma, my mother-in-law is from earth. My husband therefore is Half-Saiyan too. And I am a Quarter-Saiyan, because my mother is also an earthling. That´s it, the Saiyans live on earth now. It's a little bit of a pity that the Saiyan blood will thin out with time, but… in the end it never matters. The most important thing is that we love our family.«

Adan said: »Well, if that is so, the child that you carry could be almost three quarter Saiyan… have you thought about that?«

Pan shrugged a little bit: »My… child, yes.« She remembered the first moment when Adan had told her that she was pregnant. She had been really scared that the mutant may have succeeded at last, and planted that thing in her body. But the healer had come back the day after, and he told her that the baby must be at least one month old, and that it was very healthy. She was relieved, and happy, and excited.

Of course she had asked how the healer could know that, without having real medical equipment. Adan told her more about the old healers of Thaioshti and that they had the ability to sense life-lights and illness, or pain – no matter where the patients came from or which species they were. Unfortunately there were no young healers like that because the dictator did not allow the healers to have trainees.

Pan smiled again. It was still some kind of unbelievable. She was carrying Trunks´ child... There had been so much stress in the past few weeks that she hardly noticed that she was way over time. Shaking her head, she returned to the present moment and smiled: »It could be more Saiyan than me or its father, but it is also likely that it is a full-blooded human or somewhat in-between. My younger brother, for example, has not inherited any Saiyan features. But it never matters, anyway. I will love it. We will all love it.«

Tomam and Adan nodded in unison. »Yes. You are right.«

Pan suddenly laughed: »Have I ever told you what happened when Shane, the husband of my sister-in-law, first informed my father-in-law that Bulla is pregnant?«

»No.« Adan said. The old woman was happy that she had such a good and friendly guest at her house. »Would you please tell us now, you made us curious.«

Pan started the short story: »They were already engaged at that time, but not yet married, and both of them were rather young, Bulla was in her late nineteenth year and Shane only twenty-three. But they loved each other from first sight; from that day on when Shane came to Capsule Corp. and asked for a job as a freighter-pilot. Bulma, my mother-in-law, told me the story when I met them at Bullas wedding day. We could not stop laughing!«

She took a deep breath: »Shane was so happy, and proud, and full of joy, he came to the house of my parents-in-law in his best pilot uniform, with a big bunch of flowers and an immense box of sweets for my mother-in-law, and he had a present for Vegeta too – the full program. Vegeta opened the door, being as unpleased as ever, when a visitor showed up without an invitation. Shane was so carried away with his happiness, that he did not notice that he was on thin ice already, and he greeted Vegeta like: _Hello grandpa_!« Pan laughed out loud. »Shane says he lost memory from the next moment on. He only remembers him waking up in a hospital bed about one day later. The doctors told him that a grumbling, black haired man and yelling, young, blue haired woman had brought him there for treatment. My father-in-law can be very angry if someone makes jokes about his age; and it is even worse if someone tries to mock him. He is very proud, and courage means all to him. Some say he´s rough, but they do not really know him.«

Tomam said: »Oh yes, but nevertheless he seems to have got a good heart… And what about your husband? Is he also such a proud man?«

»Of course every Saiyan; every man, has his pride, but Trunks grew up surrounded by humans and by people who cared for him. That makes a big difference. I love him so much… he´s always there when you need him. But lately he had to stay at work until late in the evening. I do work overtime hours too, sometimes, but… we… I feel so bad because the last thing we did was arguing because he was delayed again.«

Adan tried to calm her down: »Don´t worry, Pan, every couple argues from time to time, but that does not matter. I am sure that he doesn´t even think of that little fight anymore. You told us you are the mayor of your town, or something?«

»Yes, and I hope that my grandfather Satan jumped in for me, to carry on the business. The people still like him, and they will be calmer if he is in charge. I can´t wait to tell him that he´s gonna be grand-grand-dad.« There was so much to tell about her family, and the two old people were happy to listen. Their own children had been ordered to move to another village and they had no chance to see them. And Pan was happy that she had someone to talk, and that she was not all alone anymore.

:-:

Bulla also would have been happy if someone would have been there to help her. Since Trunks was gone, she was the President of the Capsule Corporation. There was so much to do! Every five minutes another phone rang out, and now she had to supervise also the firm´s branches which were usually handled by Trunks. But everyone wanted to know everything at the same time now; and there were still the reporters that besieged the Capsule Corporation like a pack of hungry wolves. They all have heard that the wife of the President was missing, and now the President himself had also disappeared.

Little Vegeta and his sister Kaya were playing at the floor of the big bureau; they were trying to behave, but the constant ringing of the telephones or the knocking at the door also made them nervous. It would have been better for them to stay in the kindergarten, but they had big cleaning day and so they had closed earlier; and Bullas driver had to pick them up. Chichi had promised to pick them up later, but now the older woman was still at the green-market to buy food for all of them.

Fortunately, Bulma had agreed to help her daughter in the Capsule Corporation. Because she had been the former President and she was the one who joined most of the inevitable meetings and discussions. For a longer time period all of the family had only concentrated on getting Pan back, and there were many open questions at the Corporation now. They had to work through all of this, then they would have a little bit more time again.

Kori also tried to help but she was not used to manage so many people and questions at a time. She grew up at a quiet planet and was in the middle of the chaos now. Wouldn´t it be for the strange, good feeling that she had, when she was with this family, she would have preferred a quiet and much more lonely place. Right now she was the replacement-secretary that answered Bullas calls; because Bulla was needed to pick up Trunks´ phone. Kori tried her best to help, but nevertheless she seemed to have a strong Saiyan side. She was very friendly and calm on the phone with people who were really important for the Capsule Corporation; but as soon as a reporter or some curious folk called in and started to ask silly questions, she yelled at them and that seemed to intimidate them… none of them dared it to call twice.

»Exactly this kind of behavior I know from Vegeta.« Bulma said to Bulla, when they had their midday break. »Once when you were still little and Trunks was in school; I begged Vegeta to help me one afternoon in the bureau. He knew perfectly well who was really important for me as business partners, all the others got their ears yelled off. We´ve never had such a quiet week again. He scared all of those canvassers and reporters and whoever they were away.« She laughed. »If I wouldn´t know better, I´d say Kori and Vegeta are somehow related with one another.«

Bulla supposed: »Maybe she _is_ related to dad. You told me once that he hasn´t been constantly with you the time when Trunks was a baby.«

»Hm.« Bulma answered. »You´ve got a point there, and… well… I´ll look into the photo-album to compare an older picture your father with her, when we´re back home. Maybe you are right. Maybe they are related.«

Bulla flushed and said at low voice: »I am sorry, mum, I never wanted to say that…«

Bulma smiled: »That does not matter to me. Your father chose me, after all.« But then her smile froze and she shivered, ere she added: »But I have a real bad feeling… what if the crazy mutant was successful and we´re only damned to wait for something like a "Tsuyan" now, an artificially mixed creature with unpredictable power? And what if Pan is not longer fighting at our side? Maybe she´s… his puppet now. I am so worried what Trunks will do when he finds out the worst. And it is proved now, that he´s doing silly things when he´s afraid…«

Bulla answered: »Dad is with him. I am sure that he does everything to prevent that Trunks makes trouble again. He won´t allow that something happens to my brother.«

Although Bulla had tried to reassure her mother, Bulma was still uneasy and had no heart to concentrate on the late afternoon meeting in the Capsule Corporation.

When she was at home, she sat down at the radio station and called for Trunks´ and Vegeta´s space ship. They were still close enough to allow a video signal to come through. It was Vegeta who answered the call. Sometimes there were some small blackouts in the transmission, but in general the signal was ok.

»What is it, Bulma?« Vegeta asked. »I hope that everything is fine? Any news from the others, by the way?«

»Yes, everything is fine. But I was worried, forgive me that I bother you with that. There is so much that could go wrong and… to be honest, I am afraid that something really bad will happen. I know that you will do everything to find Pan and those mysterious Dark Heart Dragon Balls, but don´t you dare to leave me alone, Vegeta. Come back to me alive…. and please keep an eye on Trunks, will you?«

»Of course I will.« Vegeta answered. »Isn´t that, what I am supposed to do? This is my family, and I will protect and defense you with my life.«

Bulma smiled with tears in her eyes; she had always known that he would do anything for them, but to hear him say it so clearly was something new… it was amazing, but somehow also intimidating, because she knew how serious it must be that he really had said that.

»Stop weeping, woman.« Vegeta demanded that moment. »It makes no sense to cry now. Maybe you´ll need your tears for later. But not now.« He smiled. »I´ve to hang up now, Trunks says we are entering an asteriod-covered area, and we want to use this place to learn how to fly this thing properly. I do not think that Kakarott will ever be able to do that so we two will be the pilots as long as we fly. See ya.«

:-:

Son Goku was already waiting on (New) Namek. And to his displease the food was terrible. He knew some sorts of namekian food from his last visit, and he had rather liked it, but the new recipes were awful. Maybe this was a new trend on Namek or it had to do with the new "Oldest" of the Namekians who had born lots of new citizens now. It was possible that the children had somewhat of the same taste like their ancestor.

A long time ago Goku had tried some bits of the food Piccolo used to eat, when he wanted to, but Piccolo had used stuff that he had found on earth to cook his meals. Goku was dead, and usually dead people do not have to eat, but he wanted to eat because he liked it. And it was mere torture that he could not find one menu that he liked. Therefore he used to catch his own fish and tried every sort of wildlife animal, some wild fruits or vegetables.

Still the Namekians were parted in general into two types, the healers and the warriors were easy to separate; but there were also two new forms to come up, a type of a farmer and some type that could be trader. They had started to build up cities and villages, and only the older ones remembered Goku, and one of the Namekians who had also been evacuated to earth when Goku was fighting Freezer, begged him to tell this story to the younger ones.

But all that could not really distract him from thinking about Pan and about that what Trunks had told him. His little grandchild in the hands of that mad Tsufurian body snatcher? That was worrying him beyond measure… growling at himself, he shook his head. He must keep on thinking positive. His deep optimism was his mightiest power, and if he´d lose that positive thinking, where would his strength go?

Vegeta and Trunks would need him at his full power level, when they were here. And gosh, the needed them to be here soon! He hoped so much that they had a lot of food supplies with them. Gokus main attention returned to the story he was telling the young Namekians, who listened to him with great interest. To make the story more interesting, he transformed to a Super-Saiyan and showed them some techniques. The younglings were staring in awe, and some of the grown-up warriors wanted to learn from him. So Goku took the challenge to teach the Namekian warriors; this way the Saiyan also had some training.

:-:

The Tsufurian had retreated to the planet of the Machines, M2, and when the first disappointment and rage had left him, he had restarted his experiments. He had still Pans blood sample and could start to build a new creature again. He already knew from his first research program, how to fuse Saiyan and Tsufurian cell material; so that big part of work was easy going now. He planned something better now. He had lost Pan, as a living incubator for his heir; that was a pity. Someday he would find her and then she would be suffering because of his vengeance. But not right now, there was plenty of time.

At first, when he was still furious and not capable of consequent thinking, he thought of going back to earth and kidnap Bulla, to have another incubator; but then he had that new idea. Yes, he would go to earth, but not to get a Saiyan or Half-Saiyan woman… He wanted to get some cell material from a child or grandchild of Vegeta, if possible directly from that Saiyan. And then his heir would be perfect. One quarter made of Goku, one Quarter made of Vegeta, and one half of his own. That heir would be all surviving Saiyans and all surviving Tsufurians together.

He was so eager to have this new creature, that he had no time to let the heir grow and age from the beginning. That would last years… no, that was definitely too long. He arranged a big glass tank with a nutritious liquid, and prepared the parts of his genes and of Gokus genes for the fusion. After these preparations, he used his Instant Transmission to find the Saiyans on earth. This kind of travelling through space was exhausting, he would need some live energy food ere he could do it again to go back to M2.

The Tsufurian did not know that Vegeta and Trunks had also left, but he was surprised that he only saw the women in the big house of the Briefs. The camera was gone, so he had no spy in the walls, but from his hideout he watched the house one whole day. It was true, all the men had disappeared; there was a strange new person he did not know in the house, but he lost no real thoughts about that dark haired woman. The mutant only wanted to get Vegeta´s cell material. He was a little bit disappointed that he could not hear a word that they spoke in the house, but one thing was crystal clear. "Part two" of his plan had been successful. The Saiyans were not together anymore, they were scattered throughout the galaxy and as soon he had time, he could take them out one after another. Maybe he would safe one or two, so that his heir, his perfect creature, could also play with something.

The time was perfect when Bulla, Vegeta´s daughter, left the house with her children. They headed for the kindergarten. There were lots of other children, and if the Tsufurian could only take control over one of these children, he surely could approach to little Vegeta and Kaya unseen. He would get everything that he needed.

Bulla hugged her children good-bye for the day, and went off to the Headquarter of the Capsule Corporation, and the twins mixed up with their friends in the children´s group. At first, the mutant tried to sneak to the lockers of the children. He came across a young kindergarten-nanny. It was enough to plant a small egg into her body, to get her under control. Humans were so awfully weak! While he waited outside, he steered the nanny with his mind control like a puppet. She went to the lockers, opened them and searched little Vegeta´s and Kaya´s jackets. Without any emotion on her face she went outside and presented her master two long, bluegreen hairs, which could only belong to Bulla. The Tsufurian packed them away and sent the nanny back in the kindergarten again, to get him a child. She came back with a little boy, who was one of Kayas best friends. They have been playing together since they had met this morning, so the mutant was sure that this boy could easily get close to Vegetas grandchildren.

He ordered the boy to go and grab some hair from Kaya, but he had not counted on the furious reaction of little Vegeta. When the boy that the Tsufurian controlled, tried to get a strand of Kayas hair, her brother was immediately there to protect her. He forced the other boy to go away, and they started to fight. The kindergarten-nanny who was responsible for that group was not fast enough to interrupt them, so they started to fight. All the other kids were intimidated and started to cry, but little Vegeta was fair enough to stop his attacks when he recognized that his opponent was much weaker.

»Keep your hands off my sister. Do not try to grab her again, Tommy.« he warned.

Weeping, Tommy left the room. The frightening fight had broken the mind control for a while, but now he was back under the mutant´s control. Like he was dreaming, Tommy went outside and brought the few hairs he had ripped off from little Vegetas head during the fight, to his master.

It would have been easy for the mutant to use the nanny and the boy as his first pieces of food, but he was clever enough not to do it. Both of them were too close to the story; if they´d disappear and the Saiyans would to start to think about it, they might get behind his new plan. And no one should know this plan… it was the ultimate idea. So he ended the mind control and left the kindergarten, ere the panicked nanny could call for Bulla and the mother of Tommy to come here and pick up their children.

:-:

Time went by fast, and it was not only because the length of the days on Thaioshti differed from the earth´s days. They had only twenty hours until their planet had done one full rotation, and it was almost ten hours day, and ten hours night. Pan had not really lost counting, but she knew that she could not remember the exact number of days that she had been here now. But she had other signs that told her, that a remarkable time must have passed. Her bruises and bumps have all healed, and also her broken rib was ok again.

She felt so good, that she had started her fight- and condition-training again. She had promised to Adan and Tomam that she would only train physical attacks, or have a little run, some climbing or other exercise that did not afford her to show her real powers. Whenever she left the house and the garden she wore a disguise for camouflage, which she left at the rim of the little wood were she used to train. Pan never flew, she always walked, and whenever there was something to fix at the house, she helped Tomam with the work. The day before they repaired the roof, because during a nightly rain the water had been dripping in the house. Pan was happy to help, happy to have something to do; that made it a little bit easier. It offered her a chance to think of something else then of the fate of her family.

Whenever it was too quiet around her, she started to worry. There was so much she did not know, and… she was also afraid that the strange woman, that burglarized her house on the evening before she lost contact with them, had something bad in her mind. She shook her head and tried to run faster to leave these thoughts behind, but when she re-entered the small street that led to the main place of the village Relenni, she stopped dead. Pan hardly noticed that a hand grabbed her left wrist, and that this person forced her to hide behind the corner of one of the houses. It was Adan, her old friend, who also hid here. The old woman had tears in her eyes and was frightened, and in pain, but she still begged Pan to stay.

»You cannot do anything. If you try, it will only get worse.« Adan said at low voice.

Pan could not believe what she could see. Tomam was chained to a big pillar in the middle of the main place, and another creature was hitting the old man with a whip made of leather. Pan really had to say that the _thing_ that carried on with that torture was a creature. The face of that thing looked like the mix of an old, dried apricot and the head of a medium rare suckling-pig; it also had a beard like a wire brush and fatty black hair. The creature wore an armament of leather and iron plates, and still kept on hitting the old man, with an ugly smile at its face. This must be someone of that other folk, of that "Tribe" people. His under jaw was slightly bigger than the upper side and some blackish fangs were visible between his lips, while he was smiling. The tormentor smashed three more whip slashes on the old man.

Then he said: »So, I think now you will remember that it is your duty to deliver us the _exact_ amount of food supplies. We know how much house animals you have, and how many trees and fruit shrubs grow in your garden. We even know how much house fields you have. And you owe us exactly one half of each of them, nothing more, and nothing less. Our king has shown you mercy last year, when that heavy rain destroyed your pumpkins. Don´t you remember? You did not have to pay the tax for the pumpkins. And this is how you thank this mercy? You try to betray us! We won´t be merciful again. Tell this your wife. If she is the one that ate too much that month, she shall be ashamed.« He whipped the old man once again.

Then the "Tribe"-officer turned to the other Thaioshtians: »I hope you too have seen what happens to people that are not useful for our king. Now… let us carry on. All tributes on the wagon, and fast! I do not want to be in your so called "village" longer than needed.«

Pan shivered. She needed her whole strength to hold herself back from rushing forward to help her old friend, and to show this old-apricot-pig-type what he deserved. But she did not move; no one tried to help Tomam, and he seemed to know that. He was not angry and did not cry out for help or something. He was totally quiet, although he must feel much hurt. Also Adan was quiet, but she was trembling all over in fear and sorrowfulness.

»Please Pan, stay back.« she stuttered. »Please wait until they are gone. Please.«

Pan whispered: »You shared your food with me, Adan. It is _my_ guilt. You gave me the part that you should have given to them. Because of me you husband had to undergo that torture. I am so sorry.«

»No, it is definitely not your guilt.« the old woman said. »We always put the food that we need to give as monthly tax, away, before we even start to think about what we will eat. We are so used to the tax now that this goes automatically. We shared with you the food that we would have for us… but we shared it willingly and we will carry on with that. Once we had our children at home, who also needed food. We are happy to have you with us, Pan. So do not worry. Please stay with us, if you want, until your family picks you up.«

Pan answered: »You should have told me earlier, Adan… But I promise, as soon as Tomam is well again, I will do something. I want this to end, and if I must, I will fight for it. I will leave your house, of course, so that I do not put you in danger. But someone has to do something against those slave drivers. They must not carry on like this.«

Adan nodded: »I knew from the first minute, when Tomam brought you to our house, that you will be very important for our planet. But don´t dare to run away and try it on your own. You´ll stay with us, and we will fight together… no. _Fight_ might not be the real thing. But Tomam and I will support you in everything we need. Maybe we can pay back some part of own guilt that way…« she sighed. »Our son, Aires, had joined the rebels – Thaioshtians who fight against the new government. He had met his wife there. About twenty years ago they both had to flee from their hideout, because the army of the „Tribe" was after them. They had a small baby and did not want to put its life at stake by fighting. They tried to find shelter at our house, but… we were so frightened, that we did not open. But our son knew that we were there… he knew it and he understood. He begged us to take care for our grandson, and then he and his wife tried to lure the pursuers away from our house. He and his wife died that night and we saw their mangled bodies at the main place of our village on the next day. Our grandson was hidden behind the flowers in front of our window.«

Pan shook her head: »That is a sad story, but… you said your son wanted you to survive. He tried to protect those lives that he could protect, because the soldiers did not know about you and about your grandson. What happened to the baby?«

»We raised him, but when he was eighteen the king ordered him to go away with a woman, to found a new farm at a village far away. It is not possible for us to talk to him, because our rulers do not allow letters or phone calls. As soon as a man or a woman is old enough, they put them together; no matter if they like each other or not, and they have to live in a place that the government wants, and they have to work.«

»This can´t be.« Pan said. »This has to end, and if it needs all the strength that I have, I will try to help you out of this. I promise you.« She looked around the corner. »The soldiers are gone with their wagon. We can go to Tomam now.«

They hurried to the hurt old man; and tried to support him, and stop the bleeding. Meanwhile, two other men had found the heart to bring up a stretcher, and together they brought Tomam home. The healer came immediately and looked after Tomam.

While the healer was busy in the sleeping chamber, Adan and Pan sat down in the living room. They were both shocked and worried; Tomam was not the youngest and some of the slashes had looked awful.

Pan asked: »Adan, you said something about Rebels? Are they still active? Do you know where I might find them? Maybe they have some hints for me, how I can get those "Tribe" people down.«

Adan laughed, and shook her head slowly: »Oh, Pan, a stranger like you won´t find any trace of the Rebels. If they could be found by a stranger from another world, how easy would it be for the soldiers and mercenaries of the "Tribe" to find them? They are well hidden and they do not trust anyone. Their lives are at stake. But Tomam and I will try to send them a message to let them know what you want to do. If you still want to.«

»Yes, I do.« Pan answered with a firm voice, but suddenly she was back in a memory. _Yes, I do_. Another time, another place; the pictures in her head did not fit the current situation. _Yes, I do_. Three words; and she remembered herself in her white dress, at her wedding day. Trunks also had worn white; and at this time he had had a mustache… for a while he had thought that this thing fitted him, but… not really. At their wedding-photo he also was pictured with that stingy, scratchy beard… Pan laughed. When she told him in the wedding night that she´d prefer to share the bed rather with a _hedgehog_ than with him, he immediately removed it and since then he never had the idea to let him grow a mustache again…

Pan had to laugh, although the situation was sad enough, but her laugh also made Adan smile, because the old woman knew that Pan had been really lost in happy, cheerful and thoughts for a moment.

That moment the healer came back out of the sleeping chamber and said: »He will recover, but it will need time. He has the inner strength to get well again, because something big will happen – he knows that, I know that. And he wants to live to be a part of that big thing.« The healer smiled. »Maybe, young Miss Pan, he wants to see your child, or maybe…« and now the healer whispered: »Maybe he knows that we might be free soon.« With those easy words he had made clear, that he also would support Pan, if she needed it.

She smiled back and nodded: »But first let us look after Tomam. I want him to be ok, ere I start anything.«

Adan explained: »It will need time to make contact to the Rebels. As long as they do not entirely trust you, they won´t show up, nor send any message.« She turned to the healer: »What do we have to do to help Tomam to get well?«

»Change the dressing once a day and put this cream on the deepest wounds. As soon as they are closed, use the leaves of Banthlemony to ease the pain of the bruises. I will go now… I think you have many things to talk…« he smiled again.

Adan gave him a basket full of food supplies as payment, and the healer went away.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: A new Team **

About three weeks after Trunks and Vegeta had left the earth, Son Gohan, Videl and Urian came back. Of course Gohan had fully recovered from the poison of the scorpions. The doctors on Pital had given him an antidote and his strong body did not need a lot of healing. Also Urian was well again, his ribs were mended with a bone-glue and there were almost no scars visible, where the pincers scratched him. The boy had tried to protest, but his parents had answered in unison, that it was better for him to stay on earth. They did not make an extra detour, they had to come back to get the space-ship fixed again; because the one landing foot was still missing and during the flight some asteroids and solar storms had hit them. From radio transmissions they already knew that Vegeta and Trunks had left for Namek, and that a young Saiyan woman was on earth now.

Gohan was ready to go again in the moment that they had touched ground. As soon as Bulma was ready with the repairs, he planned to take off again, but Videl also decided to stay behind. She was worried for the fate of her daughter, but during the fight she had not been a real help for her husband – on the contrary. When they got in real trouble, he had tried to protect her and got hurt himself. So she wanted to stay with her son on earth.

When they finally got off the ship, Bulma was already waiting for them. She had a grim face, and looked at the ship with a skeptical gaze: »Gohan, I must tell you that you surely won´t leave earlier than in a week or so… The ship is much more damaged than you told me on the radio. I need to check it all over; and Bulla can´t really help me. She´s the current president of the Capsule Corporation, and there is so much to do that she can hardly breathe. But please come in, the others and I have prepared a welcome dinner…«

But she was interrupted by Chichi, who ran down the corridor like a whirlwind to hug her son: »Gohan! Gohan!« she cried. »You are back!« but then her voice got hard: »I heard what happened to Urian, how could you ever let that happen?« She changed her mind again: »Oh, well, never mind, I am so happy to have you back. Hello Videl… oh, my little Urian, you still look sick, this trip must have been very exhausting. You need to rest… come!«

Also Satan, Videls father, waited for them at the end of the corridor. He had stopped running like Chichi, because he wanted to look cool. But then he also burst into tears and could hardly stop sobbing. Videl hugged him and said: »I am also glad that I see you, dad.«

When they reached the dining room, they were surprised to find Bulla, the twins, Valese, Merve and little Goku there; and also Kori, the young Saiyan woman that the space-ship-crew did not know. But exactly Kori gave them all something to think. When she looked at the new arrivals, she seemed not to know Urian and Gohan; but she cast a longer and more inquiring look at Videl.

»What is it?« Pans mother wanted to know. »You are Kori, right? I am Videl, Pan´s mother. Have we ever met before? I don´t think so, but I can see in your face that I seem to remember you of somebody…«

Kori shook her head: »Oh, I am sorry. I did not want to stare at you. This must be a mistake, I think, some kind of déjà-vu. I only just thought, that I´ve seen your face on a very old; ripped and torn piece of photographs I have had as a child. It was made of a sort of paper and I lost it someday, long ago. But that is surely wrong… It must be a bad coincidence.«

»I do not mind.« Videl answered, and smiled. Then she turned to the others: »Now please tell me, what Trunks did… Bulma, you were so angry at the radio when you told us what happened, that we hardly understood a word. He´s ok, is he?«

Gohan added: »It must have been awful. We had a short talk with Dende, and he still is furious. I think it would be better for Trunks not to set foot in god´s palace for a while.«

Bulma, Bulla and Chichi started to tell everything that had happened, inclusive the horrifying last contact, that they had with Pan and her kidnapper. Sometimes little Vegeta and Kaya also had to say something, and they also told about the fight in the kindergarten. And that seemed to worry the grown-ups more than the kids; because the boy, Tommy, who had attacked Kaya, was known as a nice, lovely kid that was a good friend of the twins. They were invited at his birthday party and Tommy seemed to like Kaya. Why should that small boy attack Bullas daughter so suddenly and without warning? That fact left an uneasy feeling in them all. Maybe it had not been the boy´s choice to be so violent…

»But there is something else, that is strange.« Kori added in that moment. »I almost forgot about it, because it was not very important to me… but now that I had that odd feeling when I first met you, Videl, I remember another weird thing. My uncle gave me a bunch of keys when I left my home planet. He said, they must belong to a house on earth, in the Western Capital. There was an address tag on those keys, so I found the house easily. I opened the door, and entered, but there was no one. The house seemed to be left alone for days, or even weeks. At first I thought that my uncle somehow rented or bought that house for me; in case that I would have needed a longer time to find the other Saiyans. Therefore I decided to spend the first night there, as if it was some kind of hotel. But the strangest of all was, that I found pictures of all of you in this house. Of course I could not tell from the photos that you _actually_ _were_ the Saiyans that I was looking for, so I left them where they were… but now, talking about all this strange happenings, that might be important too.«

Bulma explained: »We offered her a room to stay when we first met her. The house is big enough, so…« She turned to Kori. »You never told me about this other house before.«

»No, because when I met you, the house did not interest me anymore. Maybe my uncle left me the photos of the Saiyans – I mean, of you – there on purpose, to make it easier for me to find you. And maybe I had all the déjà-vu – like memory when I met Videl, because I saw her photo in that house. At least she belongs to your family doesn´t she?«

Right in that moment, the shrill emergency-alarm of the radio in the control station interrupted the dinner. They all were at their feet in an instant, but Bulla was the fastest one to be in the control station. All space-ship-crews had agreed that they would only send that kind of signal, when something very bad had happened… a ship breakdown, a bad hurt, or… something worse.

»Who is calling in? Trunks and Vegeta, or Goten and Shane?« Videl asked.

Bulla answered: »Goten and Shane…« she tried to reach them twice via the audio-video-signal they used to communicate with, but to her shock the sending station could not make contact, as if they were phoning into a dead end. The ship seemed to be lost.

»But why!« Valese asked. She was afraid that something very bad had happened to Goten, and her panicked voice made her children feel very uneasy; even the little baby Goku in her arms started to cry.

Bulma said to her daughter: »Let me try…« they changed places.

In the meantime Chichi turned to Valese: »Give me little Goku, and let Merve also come with me. Urian, and you, twins, come too, please. We are no help here, but we need to clean up the dinner room. This is not nice, I know; but if there is real trouble, we might have to have everything ready to… yes, even to leave the house or earth. And I definitely do not want that the uneaten food rots down at the table. I am sure we will know what happened, as soon as they made contact.«

The children growled, because they had to go; but they all had promised to be helpful when they were needed. So they left the control room. Chichi was the last and whispered to Gohan: »Please tell me immediately if something is wrong with Goten, will you?«

»Yes, mom.« Gohan answered. »But we still hope that we can get a signal through. I won´t believe that the ship is gone… or that they can´t answer because they are…« He watched his mother leave the room, and close the door.

That second, Bulma turned to him: »Gohan, please help me with the signal transmitter. We need to recalibrate it. There are so many possibilities why we cannot reach them. We have to check one after another. Maybe they have simply lost their receiving-antenna, maybe one of our own satellites is out of order, maybe the computer of the space-ship – or ours – has some fault, we need to check all the cables and interfaces…«

Kori said, with an asking undertone: »Maybe they are moving so fast that the sending station cannot find their exact position?«

Bulma stopped dead: »Repeat that, Kori.«

»Well, it was only an idea. Let´s say, the radio-station sends the signal out to a point in the universe where it has detected the answering signal of the ship, but when the outgoing signal from us reaches that point, the ship has already moved so far away from that point, that it cannot pick up the signal. And they send a new position-signal back, but it's the same again. My uncle and I had that problem once, when we started our travelling experiments… the receiver of the signals was always at another place than expected, because it was too fast.«

Gohan nodded: »Yes, I understand. It´s like trying to shoot a Ki-Ball at a moving target. You have to respect the velocity of the thing that you aim at… Bulla, Bulma, let´s try that. Let us find out where their last position signals came from, and let us try to predict the course. We´ll fire our contact-signal directly into their course, so that they "collide" somehow, maybe then the sending-station will be able to fix the connection with the ship.«

They tried about ten times to send the signal at a point somewhere at the expected flight route that Goten and Shane would possibly take, and then, finally, they got a positive answer. It was no video-signal, only a small, very bad audio signal, but it was at least some kind of contact.

It was Goten speaking; Valese was relieved to hear his voice; but still Goten did not sound very calm: »Somethin… happen!« he had to yell into the microphone, because the hiss and the crackle in the signal were so loud that it covered his voice. »We… on Planet Hu… everybody sick there, a virus… I am ok but Shane thinks that… he got it… so he locked himself up in the airlock and wears his space-suit so that I don't get sick. I think he only got a cold but we… not close enough to Pital, we coming home at highest speed. Tell… the hospital… Bulma? You still there…« there was a lot of cracking and his, and a long beep, that indicated the loss of the signal, but it came back again: »Bulma, Bulla, prepare… hospital transport. Shane wants isolation chamber so he might not be carrying the virus to earth. We´re coming home. Ships engines are at the outer limit, sorry Bulma…«

Bulla answered: »It is ok, Goten, we got that. Please come home safely, and do not worry about the ship. Keep an eye on Shane, will you, he must try to eat and drink enough, even if he has put himself under quarantine.«

»Understood.« Goten answered. »Will do… Have to speed up now.«

Then they lost the signal again.

:-:

Finally they had arrived on New Namek. The ship was fast, but not fast enough; and it offered not many rooms that were strong enough to withstand Vegeta´s training. He still used at least one half of the day to do some exercise, and on this trip he had forced Trunks to do the same. The younger man had not trained for a longer time now and needed a while to restart his fighting abilities. He was still far from being as good as when he was younger, but it was better than three weeks before.

Son Goku could hardly wait to see the ship´s landing. He saw the space-ship touch ground in a small, stony desert, where the fire from the engines could not damage the planet too much. Using Instant Transmission it was not difficult to be there in the same second.

As soon as the outer door of the ship had opened, Vegeta rushed forward to meet with Goku, but instead of saying a quite simple "Hello" after all that time, they at once started to argue again. Maybe that was the kind of conversation they needed to put into words that they in fact had been missing each other somehow.

Vegeta asked: »As I see, Kakarott, you are dead – or somewhat close to it. You can´t deny that, with that halo over your head! Wouldn't it have been possible for you to fly in our direction? That would have saved time… we could have met in the orbit of Namek or somewhere close by. Or you could have used Instant Transmission to wait in Outer Space.«

Goku answered: »Well, I do not know. I never tried flying though the vacuum, not alive, nor dead, nor… something else. Maybe it would have made some effect to me. What if I would have suffocated? There´s no air out there. And it is very cold…«

»But you are dead, man! You do not need to breathe!« Vegeta sighed.

Goku replied: »I think you are right, wise old man… I must say, that grey in your hair fits you well. I´ve heard that you are grandpa now, like me?« he laughed.

»You call me grandpa, Kakarott? Let us fight and I will show you how good I am! I have never stopped training… I still manage the Super-Saiyan-Four, even _without_ Bulmas special waves now, and you?«

»Me too… and it would be a pleasure for me to have a little fight with you. The last ten years have been very quiet.«

Immediately after that they flew to an even emptier space, the great southern desert of New Namek, to have their little fight.

Trunks did not follow them. He had enough to do to get all the technical controls ready that were needed after landing and before take-off. He listed all the food- fuel- and water-supplies that they would need from Namek ere they could start again, and prepared a few empty capsules that he wanted to take with him to the shopping. When he was ready to go, he pushed up his glasses into the right position and looked out of the space-ship door. His father and his grandfather-in-law were nowhere to be seen, but in the far distant some light flashes lit up the sky. That was definitely no thunderstorm, so they must be still fighting. Sighing, he went to buy all the things that they needed alone.

When he came to the space-ship a few hours later, Vegeta and Goku also had returned, but they were still outside the ship performing some kind of flight-race: »I´m ready with the checks, whenever you are ok with it, we can go!« Trunks yelled to the other two Saiyans.

They stopped their "who is the better flyer" battle a hundred meters away from the space ship and Goku said: »Well, then let´s get started.«

Vegeta smiled: »If you are already so tired that you need a rest, then we will stop our little competition.« He turned back to his normal status and wanted to go to the ship, but Goku held him back. »What is it, Kakarott, have you changed your mind?«

»No.« Goku answered. »But let me talk to Trunks alone for a few minutes. I still have a bone to pick with him, he really scared me when he showed up in that Nowhere-place.«

Vegeta nodded: »I´m ok with that, but please do not hit him too hard, will you?«

Goku smiled: »Wow, you really care for him… no, don´t worry, I only want to ask him some questions, and they don´t hurt. I think five minutes are enough.«

Trunks who had not understood a word of the talk, was suddenly afraid that something very bad would happen. He put the capsules that contained the food- and fuel-supplies away and waited for Goku to enter the ship. »I am wearing glasses!« he cried out, when Goku was close enough to hit him; only in case if his grandfather-in-law was up to that.

Goku stopped dead and looked at Trunks in surprise, but then he burst into heavy laughs, that forced him to kneel down for a while. When Goku looked up again, Trunks had put away his glasses and seemed to be ready to take the blow as a kind of punishment.

»Stop it, Trunks.« Goku shook his head. »I won´t hit you again… why should I, by all means? You know perfectly well that I was very worried when I met you there. I am happy that you are back. But please don´t do anything like that ever again. So…« and now his eyes and the undertone of his voice got a lot sterner than before: »Now tell me how it comes, that you ended up married with my granddaughter.«

Trunks explained: »That is a longer story, not easy to tell within a few minutes. I will tell you everything when we are flying. We´ll have enough time then.«

Goku asked, now smiling, so he could not be too serious: »Did Gohan hit you when you asked him for her hand? I remember when Goten came back from one of his dates with a black eye… the father of the girl punched him one without warning…«

Trunks closed his eyes for a moment and clenched his hands to fists so hard, that his arms started to tremble; then he answered: »No. Gohan only looked back at me and demanded that I should always take good care of her… as you can see, I broke my promise. I am so sorry, Goku.«

»Don´t say that, Trunks.« Goku replied, slightly wondering himself. »Some things one can´t change or foresee. I am sure that she is in good hands, when she is with you, and in the end you did everything one could do for her. You even nearly sacrificed your life.« He sighed. He could almost sense the great love that Trunks felt for Pan. »And this is where I warn you again. Don´t do anything like that once more. _Think_, before you act like an idiot. You are Bulmas and Vegetas son, by all means! Use your brilliant brain to make better plans, Trunks. Pan is strong and she will be with us again… I am sure of that. What do you think, she would say, if that awful story wouldn´t have had a good end? What if you were dead? Imagine that.«

»I do.« Trunks answered. »Sorry about that.«

»But it was not entirely stupid… at least I am back and can help you.« Goku continued. »But now _you_ must help _me_. Tell me where the fridge is, and tell me that you have still got some food supplies from earth... the food on Namek is disgusting.«

Trunks started to laugh and pointed one floor upwards.

Vegeta also came back and when he and his son finally arrived in the kitchen, Goku had already eaten half of the food supplies that were available. Vegeta asked: »You are dead and need food… our food! I also hate the Namekian meals, so leave something to me!« he rushed forward to the fridge and started to eat too, as if this was a new kind of competition.

Trunks sighed, and sat down on the pilot´s place in the cockpit. The other two hardly noticed that he launched and were still fighting over the best parts of the food supplies when Namek was only a small bluish dot behind them. This would not be an easy flight.

:-:

Two weeks had passed since the tormentor had punished Tomam with the whip, and some of the streaks still were visible, but finally the old man did not feel pain anymore. In the meantime Adan had been successful in making some contact with the Rebels, but they were still cautious and did not really trust the stranger from outside the planet. They were all younger people and hardly one of them still spoke a foreign language; so they had difficulties to understand Pan. Adan had been there as a translator, but still there was this big gap between the Rebels and the stranger. Pan was not really afraid, but all of the Rebels seemed to know what they had to expect when they were caught or when their plans got wrong.

One evening, Adan brought a block of bee-wax with her from the market: »This is a message from you from the leader of the Rebels in the eastern continent – where we live on. The leader wants to meet you personally. They want to meet you tonight and gave me the coordinates of a meeting point on this block of wax. Read it and try to remember it. Do not write it anywhere else. As soon as you are sure to remember the place, burn the wax.«

Pan nodded. It was not difficult to remember the meeting point; it was at the small lake in the woods where she used to swim for training. Maybe the Rebels had noticed that she went there twice a week. She threw the wax into the fire and was ready to go.

Tomam joined them, smiled and turned without hesitating to Pan´s tummy, although there was still not much to see from her pregnancy: »And you in there keep an eye on your Mama, will you? If you have as much from your dad as I hope, then this must be easy for you.« This was his kind of saying goodbye.

Pan smiled, thanked him and then she left the house. Dusk was almost over, and she did not want to come too late. It was the first possibility to prove the Rebels that she really was reliable and that she used to keep her promises.

She was at the little lake way before the last light disappeared from the sky, but there was no other person. She was all alone, and she knew that it would make no sense to call or search. So she sat down in the shadow of a small rock and waited for someone to show up.

Hours passed, and all night-stars were in the sky. Still no one had approached her, and all around it was almost deadly quiet. This was a situation Pan had tried to avoid over the last weeks. Whenever she was alone there were thoughts coming up about her family. In this moment she would have preferred to be in the house on the planet Senicar, the TV, the spy cameras, even without audio transmission. She only wanted to see that they were alright. Only for one second, only for the part of a second… It was so hard to be alone. To her absolute horror she could not clearly remember how Trunks´ face looked like when he was smiling; or what he said at the day about two years ago, when they met out there in the rain…

A muffled noise forced her to come back to the reality, maybe this was the best in this situation, but she still was longing for nothing more than to go home.

A young Thaioshtian man came out of the lake. He was shivering a little bit and carried a stick of bamboo or something like that with him. He must have been hiding between the lake-plants until now. »I am Rukal.« he said. »I came here to take you to my boss.« He offered Pan a new, black and brown cloak, that made her look like a heap of earth when she stopped moving. They crossed the small wood and at the other end they met a farmer and his big hay-wagon which was drawn by two horse-like creatures. Instead of fur they had a leathery skin, and their mane and tail were short and bushy. Underneath the high heap of hay there was a hole, which was made of an old tent. Rukal and Pan sat down in that absolute dark hole and soon after that the farmer started to move his wagon.

When they were moving, Rukal asked Pan: »So you are the warrior from the other planet?« his language was medium good, maybe he had learnt it from his grandparents some day. »I will stay with you and translate.«

»No, this must be a mistake.« Pan answered. »I am not a warrior, but I may be able to help you. But my grandfather taught me never to start a fight without knowing the enemy. Because of that I´d like to know some more details about the "Tribe" people. Like how they are organized, what weapons they have… and so on.«

Rukal nodded: »Yes, this is good. My boss will tell you what you want to know when we are at our Headquarter. We will need more hours until we are there. We need to go to the main city of our continent. I will leave you alone now and take a faster horse to inform them that I have found you. When I did that I come back, and take you there also by horse. Try to sleep. If you have to go out, knock three times at the floor of the wagon. My friend, the driver, cannot understand your words, but we agreed on that signs.«

Pan answered: »Okay, thank you.«

Rukal gave her a bottle of water and some fruits, then he left. Pan tried to sleep at first, but she had nightmares in which she saw her family members fight against that Tsuyan; and all of them lost. No one could withstand the immense powers of that mutant´s heir; they all died, all of them. And then the Tsuyan only stretched out his hand and half of the earth was ripped away, the other part collapsed more slowly. And the Tsuyan laughed, and somewhat in his face was so familiar to Pan that she knew… that the creator of that creature had succeeded at last… She sat up with a small cry, and wondered why it was so dark. For the first moment she hardly knew where she was, but then she remembered, and sighed. She decided to stay awake, because she was afraid that the dream would return.

She had no watch and all around was dark, so she had lost the sense for time somehow, but once she had to beg the wagon to stop, and when she went outside, she could see that it was already bright daylight and that she was in an unknown area. A big old wood surrounded them. This wood was dark and somewhat creepy; compared with the open meadows and the small patches of woods in the area around Relenni, the village where she had been the last time. There was not much time to stay, she crept into the wagon again and waited; but fortunately Rukal returned not a long time later. He had two of those horse-like creatures with him.

»Sit here. We will go through the shrub-land now.« the young Rebel said, and Pan took her place in the saddle of one of the horses. They immediately left the street and followed a hardly visible track through an area in which only bushes grew. They were thick and thorny, and no one of them higher than three meters. It was enough to shield them from sight, but it was no wood. In the middle of that Macchia they found an old temple. Rukal hid the horses under woven ivy and they entered the temple. A small stair led one floor down.

An older woman was waiting there. Her skin was also slightly rose like all the women´s and her hair started to get grey. »Welcome, Pan from earth. My name is Huryn.« she said with some effort. »I do not much remember your language. Rukal will translate.«

Pan answered: »I know, he told me before.«

Huryn asked, translated by Rukal: »What do you want to know?«

Pan said: »Tell me the most important facts about those "Tribe" people. I need to know my enemy, so that I can fight him properly.«

Huryn agreed: »Well yes. The "Tribe" arrived on this planet about fifty years ago in three space-ships. There are not many of them. About one half of them are civilians, the other half of them warriors. They started to destroy the space-ships of our planet immediately; then they cut down every possibility to talk to other planets. They forbid us cars and machines, and so on, and in every big city they have a soldier-camp. They control every part of the planet. If we start a revolution at one place only, they will immediately punish our people at all the other continents. They also destroyed cities and villages; so that there are only so many villages, that they can control with their army. No one is allowed to marry without permission and there are only so many children allowed in a village, that the number of people stays constant. If there are too many in one village, they take some people to elsewhere, no matter if they have a family in their old home or not. They take us so much food that we can survive, but no one is really powerful enough to raise his hand against the "Tribe" people. We Rebels try to help our people, the Thaioshtians… but we can only try to get some more food supplies for the hungry, sometimes we hide people who have not enough to pay the taxes, or things like that. We are some kind of helpless.«

»But this can´t be.« Pan said. »To live like this is not fair… we need to do something about that, but we need to have a good plan, I do not want to risk that the wrath of those "Tribe" people comes down on the Thaioshtians ten times worse than it is now, as soon as I am gone. We need to show them that they must never do this to your people again.« She was silent for a few minutes. »At first we need to know if those "Tribe" folk have some allies on other planets, that may come and assist them, if we fight them to free you. Then you should try to coordinate the Rebels. They have to attack the soldier-camps all around the planet in the same moment, when some of us attack the main palace and the king of that "Tribe", so that he cannot order them to seek revenge on the civilians. But whatever we do, we will have to fight for your freedom.«

Huryn said: »The plan sounds good. If you want my friends in the main town, Saliki, can help you to get in the king´s palace to spy the leaders of the "Tribe". Maybe you can find out if they are alone in the universe or if they have some allies that would attack us too. And in the meantime I will try to coordinate all the other Rebel-groups that we can strike together. But it will need time, we will need two months to get that all ready.«

Pan smiled: »I am sorry, but I think you need to hurry up a little bit. I don´t think that I´ve got two months left. We need to fight as soon as possible, or we will have to wait until my child is born and I am fit to fight again. But of course I will travel to the capital city of your planet to have a look at the king´s palace.«

Huryn nodded: »Then we will start immediately. This is maybe one of the last chances for us to be free again. I will give you a letter for my Rebel-friend in Saliki, and Rukal will also come with you. If you start tomorrow, you can reach the king´s town in four days. Fortunately Saliki is at the eastern coast of our continent… but the letters to the other Rebels will need a longer time. Give me at least one month, Pan – maybe we need one week more. We are ready to fight, but we have to prepare the real thing.«

»Yes.« the young Saiyan woman answered. »Then let us get started.«

:-:

When Pan reached the town of Saliki, she was surprised. It was a nice place, a lot nicer than she had expected. The city was built in five circles around a center, and every inner circle was a little bit higher than the outer one. It looked like as if the city was built on a big hill, and on the top plateau there was the palace and the most impressive villas of the rich "Tribe" people. Also the second inner circle had big houses and they belonged to the "Tribe" then a city wall separated them from the three other rounds, which were the living-place for the Thaioshtians. Not far away there was the vanilla-colored beach and the lilac-colored sea.

Rukal and two other Rebels, one male, one female; who worked undercover in the king´s house, helped Pan to get in the big palace. She wore a disguise, and no one seemed to take notice of her. The "Tribe"- King felt superior and secure in his palace. He did not believe that any stranger would ever dare it to enter his place. Therefore Pan could easily mix up with all the servants and cleaning-slaves.

The king himself was a well built "Tribe"-man who was arrogant and bigheaded. His face looked like the mangled pairing of a warthog and a dried apricot, and his body was massive. He was the opinion that it was his right to treat the Thaioshtians, who worked in the palace, like slaves. Whenever he wanted it he insulted them, and he thought himself to be much too good to cast any closer look at his servants. His house soldiers acted exactly like the king, and so they were blind for the spies, that had entered the palace. Pan could easily find out that the "Tribe" people had no other friends or allies in the universe. They were like parasites. When the natural resources of a planet were used up, all of their folk went to the ships and left the planet, to take over a new one. The "Tribe"-folk were some sort of outcasts in the universe, and no one really liked them – except them _themselves_, of course. These were good news, so the Rebels really had a chance to win the fight against the occupying forces.

Pan was almost ready to leave, when she suddenly got aware that there were dungeons in the palace, where the king used to keep his prisoners. Of course she wanted to have a look; maybe she could help the people that he held there. Her Rebel-friends tried to warn her that it was a bad idea to go down there, but Pan had decided that she wanted to see this… maybe she needed that sight to be really convinced that a fight was unavoidable.

But the rebels were right; it was not a good idea to go down to the ugly dungeons. She found many devices for torture and very small, disgusting prison cells. Fortunately all were empty except two; in one she saw the skin covered skeleton of a Thaioshtian, in the other one there was… she stepped back and had to fight that she would not cry out.

It was the mangled, but still living body of the host, that the mutant, Baby – or Furyon – had used; and he was in great, maybe measureless pain. One of his arms was half missing, and it was obvious that he had been tortured. »Hey.« she said to him, after she had found the strength to speak. »Hey, you! Are you the host, or are you still the mutant?«

With great effort the person in the cell looked at her. It was not clear to see if the mutant was still in this body or not, but then he spoke, and he had the voice of the Tsufurian. So he was still there. He whispered: »Please… help me, Pan.«


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: The Dark Planet **

It was almost unbearable now. The discussions that Goku and Vegeta carried out were sometimes so crazy that one could hardly believe it. The current theme was Goku´s shining halo, which was, like a small lamp, a source of permanent light.

Vegeta growled: »That´s the tenth night that I cannot sleep because of that gloom. Slowly I am getting really nervous; the lack of darkness makes me go crazy. Can´t you put it down for a while and pack it away or something? Put it into a cupboard or your sock-drawer, Or wear a hat to cover it! But make it dark.«

Goku answered with a calm voice: »But this is why it is called _shiny_ halo. If it was not shining, it would be called _dark_ halo or something like that. And I cannot put it away. It´s stuck over my head.« He tried to take the halo down, but it jumped right back at its place.

»Put your head under a pillow.« Vegeta growled.

Goku replied: »Then I will suffocate.«

Vegeta´s voice was like liquid poison: »May I point out, that you are already dead? A dead man can´t suffocate! I told you that once before. Make it dark now.«

Son Goku laughed: »And may _I_ tell you that you once also had a halo? I said no word because of it. I was happy that you had a halo… that meant that you have a good heart.«

»Grrr….« Vegeta growled. »Don´t tease me with that, that´s been long ago. A good heart… well, I´d say it´s the heart of a Saiyan prince. And this Saiyan prince wants to have darkness now.«

»But I already told you…« Goku started a protest.

Trunks sighed and asked with weary voice: »Uhm… would you please stop it, I know you haven´t seen each other for ten years but… why do you have to fight over every detail. We are on a mission, we need to get to those Dark Heart Dragon Balls, and we need to find Pan. Try to concentrate your strength on that.«

Goku was his opinion: »He is right. And we need sleep. I´ll try to get my light out, but please wake me up, if I do not breathe anymore…« He covered his head with a pile of pillows, in addition to that he closed the little curtain that shed his bed-bunk. But he could not sleep. He was thinking again. He had left the hereafter a few weeks ago… and he had no clue if Pan was there now… his heart ached. _NO!_ Pan was alive, she _must be_ alive. They must keep their hope… and the faith that everything would have a good ending. He smiled and finally felt the sleepiness come to him. But ere he could close his eyes, he heard some strange noises, so he opened his bed-curtains again and had a look around.

Also Vegeta was sitting upright in his bed. »Trunks talks in his dreams.« he explained. »He did it sometimes when we were at the way to Namek, and I think it was not much better when we were still at home. I do not know how we can help him.«

»I know.« Goku replied.

»How?« This was one of the rare moments when Vegeta really was interested in Gokus opinion. »Do you have an idea?«

Son Goku nodded: »Yes. We need to find Pan.«

Vegeta sighed: »Well, I agree.« he stood up. »I can´t sleep now. I´ll go to the cockpit and fly a few hours, to replace the automatic pilot. So we will be faster.«

:-:

Pan sat next to the bed, when the mutant woke up. They were back in Adan and Tomam´s house and she had been awake and on guard here, since the healer had left. Now Furyon blinked and it seemed, as if he could not believe, that he was alive.

»Where am I?« he asked and tried to move his head to get a look around.

Pan answered: »You are safe, nothing else matters. The body of your host is very hurt, many bones are broken and you have severe wounds; but don´t even think of leaving this body, and to enter another one. Because then I won´t hesitate to fight against you.«

The mutant Furyon replied: »I cannot leave this body. I am too weak to undergo that transformation…« He sighed. »I can feel the damages of this body and it´s weakness. This is… strange. I never felt like that before…«

Pan´s voice was hard: »Now you see what you do to others, do you? You also hurt living creatures; lots of them. You ate their energy, you killed them, and you caused much pain to them and to their families. But… I do not understand why the "Tribe"- people did that to you. Why did they lock you up and torture you? Have you tried to attack them? «

Furyon tried to shake his head: »No. The people who held me prisoner and tortured me found me after an emergency landing, maybe four nights ago. I was a stranger to them… and that is how they treat strangers. They had fun when they mangled this body, but when they noticed that I was so weak that I would die soon, they locked me up to… forget me.«

Pan was shocked: »You were tortured almost to death only because you are a stranger? You really did nothing to enrage them?«

»No.« he said. »I was already too weak to do anything when I landed here.«

»But why?« the young woman asked. »When I last met you, your powers were superior… I was no match to you. Were you severely hurt because of the crash?«

Furyon took a deep breath and answered: »I did something very bad, Pan, the worst thing I could ever do. I was blinded by hatred and the wish for vengeance... and I made a big mistake. My own creation, my heir, attacked me and sucked up almost all of my energy. He tried to… take it all. He did not really need my life-energy; he did it only _because he was able to do it_. I could flee, and saw that he destroyed the planet where I made him; just for fun; there was no reason to do it. He did not come after me, because I was not interesting enough – he searched for another place to play… and I somehow landed here.«

Pan yelled: »Good gracious heavens, have you lost your mind? How could you ever construct an artificial life form that is so strong! Only because you… want revenge?«

Furyon whispered: »He is not an artificial life form; no android or cyborg. But I thought… I thought that I can safe time if I do not… wait until he´s old enough to understand what I wished to teach him. I wanted to have him ready to fight with me against you.«

»What are you trying to explain me?« Pan asked, trying to make her voice sound calm; but her heartbeat was much faster now. Somehow she knew it…

He replied: »I increased his ageing-rate as much as I could and let my heir out of the incubator as an almost "ten" years old boy; while he was growing I fed his brain with everything I thought he might need; the whole lexicon and how to fly space-ships and etcetera. I wanted to have him ready to be trained and ready to fight at my side against you… because I…« he shook his head. »I understood too late that an intelligent creature needs more than only a perfect body and the knowledge out of books. He is as strong as no other child has ever been before, but he lacks everything every other child has… a _life_. He never learnt what life forms learn when they grow up slowly... He has no conscience and does not care for bad and good, because he does not know what they mean. He only wanted to amuse himself by using his powers… no matter if he did good or evil.«

Pan felt so shocked that she was close to cry. This was incredible, there was a creature on the loose which did not care for anything… and this child was more than powerful. How could one stop such a thing; and… how could a life form exist without any emotions? No greed, or sympathy, no hatred, no love, no conscience, not even a sense for good and evil, or maybe yes and no; and all that in the body of a boy.

She took a deep breath and said: »We must try to stop this creature. But at first you have to get well again. Therefore you must take a rest now. Try to sleep… I know it is hard to calm down; especially after all that you have done – because at least _you_ have _some kind_ of conscience.« She stood up to leave the room.

He whispered: »Why did you decide to help me? You could have let me die there.«

The young woman said: »Because I am not like you, or like those "Tribe"- people. I cannot leave creature that needs my help behind. Even if it is you.« She smiled a little bit. »My grandfather once told me, that hatred is not the reason that changes evil minds. Hate always responds with hate. It´s _love_ that makes people change. Therefore I will look after you. And maybe someday you will understand what my grandfather meant.«

:-:

»Well, this is _really_ an unpleasant place.« Goku said. The two others could only look around in silence. »It remembers me of… uhm, no place I´ve ever been before. Even hell was a nicer place to be. Really.«

They were all in the cockpit and had the automatic pilot on. The space-ship hovered without being steered. Absolute darkness surrounded them, but… that was not the real thing. Words could hardly explain it, because the outside was so spine-chilling weird. It was as if everything; star, moon, or planet; was blinded and totally dark; but an eerie, silvery light came from somewhere – although there was no point from where the light could really come from.

A few moments ago there had been the small glittering stars all around them, and Trunks had announced, that they were almost in the center of the galaxy now. »The computer has calculated this position, only a little bit southwest now, but the machines cannot tell me what will be waiting for us. All the small probes I shot there stopped the transmission when they passed exactly the same point. Although there seems to be nothing.«

»But Trunks.« Vegeta had asked. »We can´t see any difference between here and the space that surrounded us when we were at the way to Namek, nor anything what could have ruined the probes. I´ve read in a science book that there might be a black hole in the center of our galaxy, or something like that, but… our instruments must notice that. Here is… nothing. It is like looking into the night skies.«

Trunks had proposed: »Let´s try to fly on. If we do not try, we´ll never find out.«

And this was how they had come here. It was as if a big, dark veil covered everything from the outside, but this veil was invisible and undetectable, and they had felt nothing when they entered… although it was thick enough to let no light through.

»What is this?« Vegeta asked in that silent moment. Suddenly in front of them a small black planet was visible. It was silvery-dark and covered with holes, like a Swiss cheese. There was no atmosphere and the temperature was only a few degrees over the absolute Zero. No life was possible there… but it _was_ a planet, something to land… some end for their journey… Trunks, who seemed to have nothing more to lose, steered the ship into the orbit of this dark planet. Then something very strange happened; and this was even more intimidating than anything before. Out of nothing the planet beneath them developed an atmosphere that was good for them, and the temperature started to increase a lot – it was still cold, but had something around the freezing point of water; which was much hotter than all the space around. Especially inside the holes the temperature seemed to be even warmer.

Someone or something was waiting for them – and this "whoever" seemed to know exactly what kind of life-forms were inside the space ship.

»Well, let´s do it.« Trunks decided to go down. The planet below them moved faster under them, as if it wished that they would land on a special point. When this landing place, a flat area next to a great cave, was exactly underneath the space ship, the rotation of the planet stopped again.

For safety reasons and to have it a little bit warmer, they dressed up in their orange space suits, also Goku who would not have needed it; and they all wore their helmets, when Trunks opened the door. But the instruments were right; there was a good atmosphere out there, so they left the helmets at the entrance of the cave. The gravity was ok, almost as it would be on earth, although that planet was not much bigger than a medium sized moon. Maybe this was also artificially made. There was no doubt that they were invited to come in, because far in the distance there was the shimmer of a light. It seemed to be a long way, as if they had to go almost to the center of that dark planet.

Cautious but at a fast pace they went through the cave; sometimes the small path widened to caverns and sometimes the surrounding walls were so low that they had to crawl on hands and knees to pass through. Behind them everything was black, one could hardly see the person that was following, and they lost the sight of the entrance of the cave long ago. But there was always a weird, greenish light in front of them. The light did come from some kind of fog, maybe it was glowing gas, and it floated slowly towards the center of the planet. It seemed to guide – or to lure – them to that place.

Suddenly something touched Vegeta´s left leg, and he fired a Ki-Shot at that thing… no one was allowed to grab him. The splinters of a bleached skeleton rained down on them.

»Urgh…« Goku said. »Maybe this was the last one who wanted to visit the Dragon of the Dark Chaos.« He bowed down and took the half skull in his hands. »I don´t want to end like this guy. He´s so… bleached.«

Vegeta sighed: »You are the only one of us three, who definitely won´t end up like this. But if you are afraid, Goku… We still have time to go back.«

Trunks shook his head: »I don´t think so.«

A deep, rolling sound, not much different from thunder, echoed through the cave, and all for a sudden, without having moved one foot, the three of them stood in a big cavern. A soft, greenish light that was produced by thick gas clouds illuminated the surroundings, but still there were many deep shadows around them.

»What the…« Vegeta cursed. »How did we get here!«

In the middle of this big cavern there was a black throne. This majestic chair had been carved out of the solid rocks. Somehow it looked like as if the stone had been melted and tortured to build up those ornamentations. In front of the throne was a table with one foot, also made of stone, and on this table there were seven greenish spheres; each of them had an own light glowing inside it. Without a trace of doubt that were the Dark Heart Dragon Balls.

Trunks was the first one who arrived next to the table, but his father and Goku were at his side only an instant later. They looked at the seven Dragon Balls. And no one liked them.

They had no stars in them, but other spheres, like "the box in the box in the box" one in another. The darkest one was the innermost, so even the „One"-sphere Dragon Ball looked scary. But the others were very hard to describe. Every sphere, that was not much thicker than a soap-bubble, seemed to have an own life, it rotated and moved in a total other way than the next one. There was a constant whirling in the Dragon Balls – it looked like pure chaos.

Without waiting for any more discussions, Trunks said with a loud voice: »Dragon of the Dark Chaos, show yourself!«

Vegeta growled: »Hey! We were not sure that we really want to do this!« He was not fast enough to stop Trunks from talking, but he bumped his elbow into his son´s ribs.

Goku shrugged his shoulders: »We are here. It´s been a long journey and I am afraid, that we are not allowed to go again… at least not so easy.«

»Your dead friend is right.« a snarling voice said. At first it seemed to come from nowhere, but then with a faint hiss a creature was visible on the throne. »I am here.«

The figure had an almost human body, but was covered with greenish scales all over. Fingers and toes carried claws and it had a long tail with a spiky ending. The eyes of the creature were of a poisonous yellow with a slit-like pupil, the pointed teeth of the dragon also had this yellowish color. It had no visible ears and on the top of his head a few sharp horns were pointing out.

The dragon had an evil smirk on his face: »You came to visit me, and you called me? Be welcomed, then… I already started to get bored. What do you want from me?«

All three of them were very cautious, and it needed no words to decide that they should hold back their real wish for a while. Every important person in the universe had warned them that this dragon was very dangerous. They tried to watch him a little bit longer, maybe it was possible to judge him a little bit better when he said something more… but the dragon seemed to know what they wanted to do, and did not talk, nor move. He only waited, with no expression except that evil smile on his face.

So Goku stepped forward and said: »It is me. I have the wish.«

»Fine.« The Dragon of the Dark Chaos said. »I can grant you every wish, how big it may be. I am more powerful than those minor Dragons, that the Namekians made.« He grinned. »Do you want to live again and forever, do you want to have the planet of the Saiyans back? Do you want to be the ruler of the galaxy or should I kill someone for you?« Now his grin really got dirty and appalling: »But as I said before, I am bored. I am eager to get the price… I want something for your wish.«

»I know.« Goku responded. »I was told that you need a sacrifice. Tell me the conditions of your contract.«

»Conditions? There are no conditions, only one rule. You tell me your wish. I take what I want. Then your wish will be granted. That is all.«

Vegeta asked: »So… if we do not tell you a wish, we might go, and leave this planet, and nothing happens.«

»I never said that.« the Dragon of the Dark Chaos answered. »You are here.«

Goku growled: »I understand. You won´t let us go. And I do not know what you will take, until I told you my wish. And as soon as I told you the wish, you take something, and we have no choice to change your mind… whatever we do, we are trapped.«

The dragon smiled: »I must say, you guessed right. So… tell me the wish now.«

Pan was worth it. They had no chance to find her in time without the help of this creature. Goku cast one look at Trunks, and he could see that Vegeta´s son could hardly keep silent. He seemed to be lost in thoughts that were moving in "fast forward" speed… and that were no nice thoughts. Goku noticed once again how much Trunks loved Pan, and that made the next step very easy. He smiled.

Son Goku turned to the Dragon of the Dark Chaos: »So you won´t tell me what you will take as a sacrifice?«

»No.« The dragon shook his head and scratched himself at the neck: »You are the guest, you are the first.« He slowly crossed his arms in front of his chest. »I am waiting.«

Goku returned a sharp nod: »Okay. I wish…«

»Oh, excuse me, please!« Trunks had entered the conversation so unforeseen, that Goku and Vegeta startled. Trunks´ voice was friendly, almost relaxed, as if he was talking to a taxi-driver or the postman, and not to the Dragon of the Dark Chaos. »May I ask something, ere you hear the wish, dragon? Please, I need to know it, because it really fascinated me… and as soon as Goku had told you his wish, there won´t be time, I assume.«

Vegeta and Goku could not believe it. Was this another one of Trunks´ strange ideas? Lately he had some tendency to act a little bit – _odd_. They both had tried to keep Trunks out of bounds here, like as if he was only their pilot or something, to keep him safe; but now he had put his head in the snare, and the snare was ready to close.

The Dragon of the Dark Chaos clearly faked his friendliness, but he said: »Yes, of course you can ask. But hurry up. I want to have my price. And when I have my price, I can go to sleep again… it also been a long time that I´ve been dreaming. Ask. Now.«

Trunks answered: »It won´t take long, I promise.« He sat down on a rock, and leaned back, as if he was in a smart living room and not at the probably worst place in the whole galaxy. »But see, it is a miracle. When we entered that dark space, where there was only a planet made of rocks and extreme coldness. I scanned twice, there was nothing… but as soon as we were in the orbit, the planet got so warm that we can live here, and it got an atmosphere that we can breathe. And the planet turned itself, so that we could land exactly at the entrance. Was it you? Did you do all these wonders? Did you know that we will come, and that we are Humans and Saiyans and that we breathe that kind of atmosphere? Do you see _everyone_ that comes? This is brilliant!« He underlined his explanations with movements of his hands, as if he had started a scientific discussion. »Cause you _must_ know which kind of species will come to visit you, to prepare your planet.«

Vegeta felt like knocked down with an immense hammer. His only son had gone crazy. How the heck could anyone admire this filthy dragon? No one knew what sacrifice this creature would take, and it was still not sure that he really would help them… and Trunks seemed to be the greatest fan of this dragon! The prince of the Saiyans was so shocked that he could not speak… and it was getting worse. Much worse…

The dragon was really amused and answered: »No one ever before asked me about that, and now, as I come to think about it, that was a real brazenness! Everyone only wanted to tell me the wish, but no one ever paid attention to my outstanding abilities. But of course I will tell you. You guessed right, _I_ did all the changes to my planet. As soon as a space-ship enters the outer sphere of my kingdom, I know that someone is coming. It is like ringing a doorbell. And of course I know what species they are and I can start to prepare my planet. I do want to hear the wishes and want to take the price… If my guests die, ere they come to me, I have no fun. Some of my visitors are so eager to get their wish fulfilled, that I can sense what wish it will be. And I can think of a good price to take. I admit, I do not know what you want from me, but… sometimes it is real fun.« He laughed.

Then the dragon continued: »For example: Once there was a man who wanted to have back his youth, and he was so eager that I knew it before. So I decided… to take his life as a sacrifice. That was funny, really…When he realized that I betrayed him! I never will forget that last look in his eyes.« He laughed out loud and the walls of the cave seemed to shudder under that evil laugh. But then the dragon explained: »If I´d like to, I could make it even nicer here. I show you a little bit of it, just for fun. I am a great, _no_, a magnificent wizard.«

The Dragon of the Dark Chaos made a move with his hands and the cave around them changed. Within a few moments they found themselves in the big atrium of a luxury villa, with white stone pillars and nice, white furniture. Outside of some big windows the sea was rolling on a white beach. It was warm and the sun was shining.

»You see?« the dragon said with a superior smile. »But my visitors shall have some respect from me. Therefore I usually greet them in my cavern. I like to suck up their fear.« With a wave of his hand the nice surrounding was gone again.

»Wow!« Trunks gazed at the dragon with pure admiration. »That is so great! I´ve never seen anything like that before! I fully understand now why you are called the mightiest of the Holy Dragons. So… you are able to predict the wishes of some of your visitors and you can foresee who will come to visit you as soon as they are in the orbit of your planet. You are brilliant! Can you sense the people who want to visit you throughout the universe? And how exactly do you differ from the other dragons?«

The Dragon of the Dark Chaos shook his head: »No, no, you never can compare me with Shenron or Polunga; those "Holy Dragons" who were created by the Namekians. They are nothing but the tools, the servants of the Namekians; and they die, if their creator dies. I live alone. Don´t _dare_ to compare me with those losers. I am totally different.«

Trunks smiled widely and leaned forward: »Can you explain it to me? Where do you come from? I never before met such an amazing creature like you.«

Now the dragon seemed to be flattered: »Of course, my young admirer. I am not like the other "great" dragons. I have real might, because no one dominates over me. The other dragons only come, if one collects all their Dragon Balls – otherwise they are locked up like left-alone-puppies; waiting to be released. I am always free, my Dragon Balls are usually together and I can awake or go to sleep whenever I want. I am my own master. The other dragons, like old Polunga or Shenron; like it to seem "powerful" when they arise. Yes, they can see in every corner of the universe, but they exist only for a few minutes. I do not see every place in the universe, and to be honest, it does not interest me. I am here, in my dark center, as mighty as maybe only a Kaioshin is … but even mightier, because if I would ever run out of life energy, there won´t be no successor. I take the whole galaxy with me, if I die. You see, I am the real ruler of this galaxy, and I am free to dwell in the paradise I make for me. I remember every sacrifice I have ever taken; and the fear and the pain of the one who came here to get his wish granted, but I remember also the sacrifice _itself_… like how life was on that planet I took one hundred years ago, or the car I let explode to eradicate the family of the one who came to me. I dream about it and I do not have to wait until someone has collected my Dragon Balls. They conserve every sacrifice for me and are my partners and my life. I am not interested in those billions of creatures out there. If someone wants something from me, they will come to see me. And I have my fun with them. You see, I am much better than those other "mighty Holy Dragons". And be aware, that was not all, my young friend.«

»What? Really? There is more?« Trunks was so eager to hear the answer, that he trembled like a man who had already five right numbers in the lottery and was only waiting for the last number to be announced. He could hardly keep his feet still.

The Dragon of the Dark Chaos was happy with self-admiration now: »When I heard the wish, I immediately absorb the price for the wish, and this is the most beautiful moment in my existence, because I can see the terror and the surprise in the faces of my clients. And after that I grant my wish, and at that point something happens. My Dragon Balls do…«

»Excuse me.« Goku said at low voice. »This has been enough conversation, I think.«

Trunks, as well as the dragon, looked at him in surprise. It seemed as if they had almost forgotten that the other two were there. And Trunks was the one of them who made a face as if Goku had insulted him by this interruption.

Vegeta went to his son and hissed at low voice: »Have you lost your mind? You can´t talk to this dragon like this. He´s surely going to take a crucial sacrifice… and you admire him? I can´t believe it.«

»But father…« Trunks tried to respond. He was interrupted by the dragon´s words.

The Dragon of the Dark Chaos got up from his throne and hovered next to Goku. »Well, if you cannot wait, until I am finished, then I also won´t wait anymore. Tell me your wish, immediately, or I will wipe away the atmosphere that allows your friends to breathe.«

»So we´re back to nice-talking, are we?« Goku said sarcastic. »Okay, then.« He turned to Trunks: »You haven´t got any more questions, have you?«

»No, thank you.« the younger man replied. He stood up and made a short bow to the dragon. »I won´t disturb you anymore.« He stepped back a few steps, and came to stop at a place where he was half covered by the long shadows.

But of what kind of use was that now! Vegeta stared at his son. If it was for him, he would have knocked Trunks out a long time ago and kept him out of this, back in the ship or even on Namek. How could anyone be so credulous? Trunks must know that it was dangerous to get noticed by this dragon. After such a long talk, the dragon had _surely_ taken attention of Trunks. But there was another thing: Vegeta did not like the expression in his son´s eyes. It made him feel uneasy. That talk with the dragon had definitely not been all… Slowly he went closer to Trunks and if it was needed, he would intervene.

Next to the Dragon Balls it was time. The dragon was waiting. Goku turned to his friends and both nodded. Then Goku said: »Dragon of the Dark Chaos. I wish to know where I can find granddaughter Pan.«

Vegeta asked bewildered: »Why did you not say, that you wish her to be here? Then all would be over and we could go home!«

Goku answered: »Because I want to lay my hands on that person who kidnapped Pan. He might be still with her when we find her, and I promise that he will feel my wrath.«

The Dragon of the Dark Chaos nodded: »Fine. Your wish is spoken. And now for my price…« he looked at the others. Then he said to Son Goku: »I do not want anything from you, because you are dead.« he turned to Vegeta: »I do not want anything from you, because you are old… I already took the life of an old man; and to do this again would be boring.«

Vegeta started to protest: »You call me old, damn it! I will show you how much power I still have, come over and fight, I will kick you…«

Goku grinned, because his old friend was so enraged, but then he and Vegeta stopped dead in their movements and fell silent. The worst thing, that could ever happen, happened.

The dragon smiled: »But you, my young friend, you seem to have something very interesting for me.« He pointed at Trunks. »Come here.«

Goku protested: »Hey, what do you want from him, dragon? He is only our pilot, and has nothing to do with my wish, so leave him alone! That is not fair!«

»Who said, that I am fair?« the dragon answered. »Well then, I am waiting.«

Trunks agreed: »Yes.« Somehow he had sensed that it would end this way. He started to walk towards the Dragon of the Dark Chaos.

»No!« Vegeta said and stepped in his way. »I won´t let this happen!«

»Father.« Trunks smiled. »We can´t change it. Please promise me that you will take care of everything, no matter what will come now. I am sorry if I ever disappointed you.« He walked on and was soon next to the dragon and asked him with stone-cold voice: »I am here. What do you want from me?«

The Dragon of the Dark Chaos stretched out one finger and placed the pointed claw under Trunks´ chin. With a slow move he pushed his head so far up that it looked unpleasant. The sharp claw cut Trunks´ skin and he started to bleed, but that was not important now.

»Keep your hands off my son!« Vegeta yelled, but it was no use.

Gokus fists were trembling, but he remained quiet.

Trunks said again: »Dad, it´s okay. Dragon, what do you want?«

»I want something that is easy to take but hard to give. I want to take your greatest love. I want to take you every memory and every feeling for that, what you love most of all.«

Goku could not believe it: »He wants _what_? This can´t be true.«

Vegeta was so furious now that he turned into a Super-Saiyan, and prepared a Ki-Shot in his right hand: »Dragon! Let him go! I warn you one last time!«

»Never, old man, never; but now, as I see your reaction, I know, that I chose the right sacrifice. I like your pain, and now… I will try to make your pain worse.« With his other hand he touched Trunks at the upper chest, it was a short hit, not strong, not long, but something very bad seemed to happen when he took his hand away again.

The Dragon of the Dark Chaos removed his claw from under Trunk´s head and stepped back with an amused smile: »So this is it? Your greatest love! How good it feels, really…« he sat on his throne and closed his eyes. »I never felt anything like that before… this is great. Thank you. The price is paid. And now… I will fulfill your wish.«

Whilst the dragon still sat on his throne, being happy with his new sacrifice, the Dark Heart Dragon Balls started to glow like little stars, and they began to fly. Blinding light filled the cavern; everyone had to shield the eyes because of that shine. A silent explosion followed, and then it was dark again. The Dragon Balls were gone.

»What was that!« Vegeta growled. »What did you do?«

»I granted your wish.« the Dragon of the Dark Chaos laughed. »My Dragon Balls scatter themselves to somewhere – somewhere even I do not know. I promise that one of the Dragon Balls will be with the person you wish to find; wherever she may be.« Now the dragon laughed even louder. The evil sound echoed through the cave. »But I also promise you; no matter where you may start your search… you will find your missing person with the very last Dragon Ball. And don´t lose too much time. If the Dragon Balls are not here within five years, or one of them is damaged, my Dark Sphere will turn into an immense Black Hole, which will suck up the whole galaxy.« The Dragon of the Dark Chaos smiled at them. »I need the energy of the Dragon Balls, and if I have to die, I´ll take all of you with me.«

»How can you do such a thing!« Goku yelled. »You are a Holy Dragon after all!«

It was no use to shout. The Dragon of the Dark Chaos had disappeared, and it was dark and quiet in the cave, as before. Only Goku´s halo made a little bit of light now, even the glowing gas was gone. This could be an evil sign, so they decided to go immediately.

»Trunks, are you all right? Can you walk?« Goku asked.

»Yes, I am rather fine.« Trunks answered with a very calm voice. It did absolutely not fit the situation. He switched his flashlight on and started to walk towards the exit. »What are you waiting for, we know what we have to do, to find Goku´s granddaughter.« he said when he noticed, that the other two did not move.

Vegeta was puzzled: »_Kakarott´s granddaughter_? Her name is _Pan_, for all sakes! You… Trunks, wait! You are _not_ all right!« He hurried after him, and for the first time in his life he felt real concern about someone – there was nothing else but deep anxiety in his heart. »Kakarott, come on... We need to find out what happened to him.«

»Yes. Lets hurry.« Goku agreed, and they followed Trunks at a fast pace.

When they reached the space-ship, they could hardly breathe and the temperature had fallen rapidly again. They were all happy when the ship´s door was closed behind them. Without any delay or further explanations Trunks took place at the pilot´s seat and started the engines. He launched the space ship, and sped up. The whole time he said no word and his eyes had an empty expression. His father and Goku had to accept that something very, very bad had happened.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: The tides are turning on Thaioshti **

One month had passed; and Furyon felt much better. In the time that had passed, the mutant had often talked to Pan, but also to Tomam and Adan. It seemed, as if he had leant – or maybe – only _remembered_ a lot. A part of his cells still conserved the memory of the king of Tsufuru; and at this time, he had surely been able to feel and think like every living creature. He knew, what it was like to feel pain and rage about losing his family, friends and his home planet to the Saiyans; but he also remembered that he once was able to love, support and respect people. The time that he had now spent with the people who cared for him, had had an effect on his still genius mind. He understood that it is not possible to _force_ others to be ones friends, and that it needed more than constructing tools like Dr. Myuu to have company. Real friendship had to be earned. And slowly he had started to change – _Maybe_.

It was a rainy evening when Pan got the letter from the Rebels: They were ready. Every Rebel leader around the planet knew what they had to do as soon as the main group with Pan attacked the king´s palace and the big soldier-camp in the Capital City. The Taioshtian civilians also knew that something would happen, but of course they kept quiet and tried everything to distract the "Tribe´s" guards who patrolled their villages. In the case of emergency of course everyone, old and young, were prepared to fight, but… they had to cut off the snake´s head first, because a headless army was much easier to defeat. The Rebels took the greatest risk, because they would start the main attacks on the forts of the "Tribe's" soldiers, but they were ready to die for their dream, if they must.

Pan turned to the old couple: »It is time for me to go. It is now or never, because soon it will be impossible for me to battle against anyone.« She turned to Furyon: »And you will come with me. You are not strong enough to fight, but I want to keep an eye on you; even if I fight against the whole army.«

»You still do not trust me?« The Tsufurian asked.

»No… at least I do not trust you _enough_ to leave you here, alone with my friends. I know that you behaved well in the last month and that Adan and Tomam somehow started to like you, because you behaved well, but… no. I am not ready to forgive you, not yet.« For a moment she was lost in thoughts. _It is your guilt that I am so far away from home and that all of my family members are scared._ She shook her head and smiled: »But be sure, I will be there to protect you, if you need me. Just stay at my side… Maybe that little test will convince me, that you have earned a little bit of my trust.«

Furyon sighed and looked down at his body. »But my host-body still lacks the one arm. I am not much use in a fight with only one arm. Maybe I will be a hindrance.«

»We´ll see when we´re there, ok?« Pan reassured him. »Let´s get ready now, we must be in the Capital City in time. The rain and the night will cover us a little bit.«

She retreated to her own room and tried the trousers and the shirt that she had brought with her from the Planet Senicar. Those clothes were made of an alien material, but better for fighting than the long garments the women at this planet wore. But she could not get the buttons of the trousers closed; they were already too tight around her waist. Had so much time passed, since she had come here? She shook her head, and tried to find some other garments. Finally Tomam gave her one pair of his own trousers, they were a little bit too big, but she could move rather well with them.

»Do you feel already strong enough to fly?« she asked Furyon, when she came back to his room. »Since we know now, that the "Tribe"-people cannot sense life-energies, we can use that technique. We only must watch out that no one sees us. And even if they are able to sense us, it is too late anyhow.«

Furyon nodded: »I think I am strong enough to fly.« He tried it, and hovered a few inches over the floor.

Tomam and Adan stared at him, and when Pan also went airborne, they stepped back with respect, maybe also a little bit of fear. They had never seen anything like that before.

»Don´t be afraid.« Pan explained. »I´ve shielded my real powers until now; and still I am not showing all of it. I know it is not usual for you to see someone flying, but it is nothing more than another of my techniques. Even humans can learn it, if they have a strong will and concentrate a lot; for example my mother and also my first boyfriend, whom I taught flying a few years ago. Or my friend Krillin, he also is a human and can fly…«

Tomam nodded: »Now I am really sure that you´ll have a chance against them. The "Tribe"-people are not very brave. As soon as they see someone who is a better fighter than they are, they drop their weapons and run away. I wish you good luck.«

Adan added: »But please be cautious. Come home safely, will you?«

»I try.« Pan said. »And I try my best, to free your planet. Furyon, let´s go.«

They flew out in the rainy night, where the clouds shielded them perfectly from any view, but after a while the Tsufurian needed a rest. He was far from being as strong as he was before; maybe he would never again get his old strength back… unless he´d start to eat up the life energies of people, but then Pan would not hesitate to attack and punish him.

When they reached the new headquarter of Huryn and her Rebel group a few hours later, all of the Rebels were surprised to see them so early. On the ground one would need three days to travel from Relenni to this hideout, which was next to the Capital City, Saliki.

»How did you get here so fast?« Rukal asked, a little bit alarmed. Everything that was unusual seemed to terrify or intimidate the Rebels.

Pan explained it to him and showed him how she could fly, and like Tomam and Adan, also the Rebels were impressed, and two of them actually bade her to take her a little bit up in the sky to fly around. Pan promised that she would do that as soon as the battle was over, because it was too risky now. If the enemy would see them, the surprise would be gone.

Huryn asked, with Rukal as her translator: »But still you are alone, Pan. Will you really be able to fight all the soldiers in the palace all by yourself? We will, as we have planned, attack the soldier-fort, from where the soldiers might run out to punish the people of the city; that leaves all the palace-guards to you. They may have weapons, after all, and… you need to keep your baby safe. Wouldn't it be better to wait, until your child is born?«

Pan shook her head: »No. Definitely not. I want that my child is born on a free planet, and not in a giant prison. And by the way, as soon as we get rid of the occupiers, I can let my Aura shine again. Maybe my family will find me then… I hope so much that I´ll be with my husband when it is time… So I won´t hesitate! It is sink or swim now, Huryn.«

»Yes. Sink or swim.« Huryn answered. »We are ready. As soon as you take out the king, we will be there to attack the soldier-camps all around the planet. They will get an alarm signal from the palace, I assume, and as soon as our friends hear this… they attack.«

»Good.« Pan said. »I will fly directly to the main building of the palace, where the king uses to stay, and will attack it from the air. This will be impressive… I think they have never before seen anyone flying and using energy based attacks. Maybe the king will surrender ere I need to hurt too many people.« She pointed at Furyon: »By the way, may I introduce my special friend? He will be my so called "wing man" during that fight.«

Furyon asked: »I shall really stay with you?«

»Yes. I need you to be somewhere, where I can see you. That makes me… _quieter_. A good fighter keeps an eye on every potential enemy, you know?« She smiled.

The mutant nodded: »I know. I would not do otherwise, if I were in your place. But may I suggest some other strategy? If I understood you right, Pan, you want to attack the palace frontally. But there´s a gap in your plan that could be disastrous.«

Pan answered: »Of course. I respect you as a great scientist, and surely you are also a good planner and tactician. Tell me what you think. I will listen.«

Furyon started: »Well, you and I have been in this castle already and we have seen that it is made of very solid material. I know that you are strong, but it might not be useful if your attacks demolish the outer part of the palace, but do not get inside it. The king of the "Tribe" might flee to some safe place and surely he will send out a message to his soldiers from there, to warn them what happened in the palace. They would have enough time to react and prepare themselves for the attack of the Rebels. The soldiers are surely hold their forts for a long time, and Rebels are not strong enough to besiege a closed fort. Everything will fail when they hold up the Rebels with their weapons; and kill them – then the soldiers would surely seek revenge at the villages of the civilians. But if you, Pan, are able to cut off _every_ communication from the palace beforehand, the other soldiers might still notice that _something_ happened there; but they get no exact news, and they get in disorder and panic.«

Pan agreed: »I really almost forgot about the possibility that the king could warn his people… and in addition to that we must take care of the Thaioshtian servants that live in the palace. They must not flee, or the king might be alarmed. But they must be safe somewhere.«

Huryn said: »They know every room in the palace, even the secret bunker. Maybe you could send them there, to hide… and if they close the door behind them, the king has no possibility to use the emergency-radio to warn the other soldier-forts.« She showed them a hand-drawn plan of the palace that one of her friends had made in the meantime. »My friends say that something like big shiny worms made of iron come out of this room, and lead to the big iron thing on the roof.« She was younger than fifty; she had grown up without electricity, cables, and radio antennas and so on, therefore she did not know the real name and the use of it, although Pan had once tried to explain it a little bit to her.

Pan remembered the rooms and staircases that she had seen, when she was there a month ago to spy out the "Tribe" king. She said: »In order to cut off the communication system first, I change my plan. Furyon and I try to sneak into the palace again. If I am right, those wires that you have seen are some connection between the bunker and the antenna on the roof. We must destroy them, and then the servants of the palace have to hide in the bunker and block it, so that the soldiers and the king cannot go in. I will attack the king directly in his throne chamber; maybe I can intimidate him so much, that he signs a peace contract.«

With the first glimpse of daylight they started. In the disguise of the deliverymen of the bakery Pan and Furyon reached the servant´s entrance to the palace. Two guards were there; but the disguise was good enough, especially because the guards never thought that something like a rebellion could ever happen. They were young, and had never seen the Thaioshtians free; therefore they were used to have them as cowardly slaves. Without asking, each one of them took a piece of bread out of the baskets and started to eat.

Pan told every Thaioshtian in the kitchen that they should immediately prepare to seek shelter in the bunker, but to her displease one of the higher servants, an old man, informed her, that the king used to wear the key for the bunker at a chain around his neck; because he also used the safe room as a hideout for his most valuable treasures. This was a problem…

»We will give you the key.« she said. »Please try to sneak around in the whole castle to inform your people… but quiet. I try to get the key for you.«

Furyon and Pan went on, and had a look at the cables of the main antenna first. »Let´s destroy them.« Furyon proposed. »Only for safety – maybe there is another radio station in the soldier´s quarters. They won´t notice.« He placed his one remaining hand at the bunch of cables and fired a small amount of energy on them. They started to melt.

»You are already able to do this? Why did you never tell me?« Pan asked, a little bit alarmed. »I never assumed that you might be this strong again.«

Furyon replied: »I tried it for the first time since my downfall, Pan, and I have only one arm left, to concentrate all the energy I have, so it was not so hard to do it. The cables are gone. No one will send a message from here.«

They hurried down again and reached the throne chamber just that moment, when the king yelled out for his breakfast. He was sitting in his upholstered chair like a giant, dead and already slightly rotten squid, who´s mother had had a bad date with an orange warthog.

»Where´s my food!« he roared. »I want my food now! I want my food!«

His close bodyguards also growled and looked out for the servants. One of them prepared some kind of whip, because the delay of the servants had to be punished.

Three panicked Thaioshtian girls hurried down the corridor with big, almost immense tablets full of the best food one could imagine. They were so strongly trained to follow the orders of the king that they acted almost instinctively, but they were very afraid. Of course they had heard that there would be an attack and they were panicked that they would be trapped in the middle of the fight, once they were in the throne chamber.

Pan stepped in their way: »Give me the tablets!« she did not think of the fact that the young servants might not understand her, and they looked back at her in silent shock.

Suddenly Furyon said something in Thaioshtian language… and the servants understood. They gave Pan two of the tablets, each one in one hand, Furyon took the third one, then they started to run towards the bunker.

»Since when do you speak Thaioshtian?« Pan asked her companion.

»I had one month time to learn it a little bit.« he replied. »I had nothing else to do and Tomam and Adan helped me. That´s one of the major rules in warfare. You have to understand your enemy. And it was useful, wasn´t it?«

Pan smiled at him, but then they had to go, because the king yelled out again. They reached the throne chamber and the king started to slobber when he saw the food. Two soldiers carried a table to the king´s throne, so that he could eat without getting up. Furyon and Pan placed the tablets at the table, and then the time had come... to be very fast.

When the fat king leaned forward to reach out for a piece of cake, the chain around his neck, where the key hung, slipped out from under his garment, and Pan did not hesitate. She rushed forward, grabbed the key and threw it to Furyon. »Run!« she said. »Run and help the others! They must be safe!« She jumped at the table and towered over the startled and shocked king. She bowed down a little bit and said: »Your dictatorship is over now! I give you one single possibility to sign a peace contract and leave this planet in a peaceful way. I am not here to kill anyone… but I will fight, if I have to!«

»You insulting little brat!« the king of the "Tribe"-folk yelled back and jumped to his feet. He was much stronger than he looked like and his fat belly turned over the table. Everything smashed on the floor, and at first the soldiers were eagerly waiting to jump on Pan and nail her to earth, because they thought that she surely must have fallen down with the food… but she was flying and no one could reach her.

»I said, give up!« Pan shouted, a little bit louder, and took off the heavy bakery-disguise. »This is the last warning. We will fight for the freedom of this planet.«

»Freedom?« the king cried so loud that his voice nearly collapsed. »You are insane, girlie! Who will fight with you? I do not see your army, or have you hidden your soldiers under that little shirt, that you wear? I am the king and I am the ruler, and those Thaioshtians are nothing but cowards! They deserve nothing better than to be my slaves!«

Pan sighed: »Why by all gods, Kaios and Kaioshins do I always have to meet crazy people who think that they can dominate over others? Can´t this have an end someday? Raaah!« she screamed and charged her energy for an attack. She knew that she had to be impressive; maybe this would change the king´s mind.

»Shut up and die! Kill that stranger!« the king ordered at high pitched voice and the bodyguards aimed at Pan.

But she did not stop to charge, instead she growled: »Ka-Me…Ha-Me… HA!« With both hands she shot the energy wave right over the head of the king, she still did not want to hurt someone, but it must be an extraordinary shock. Something strange happened; Pans Kame-Hame-Ha was much stronger than she expected, it was as if somehow some more energy than usual issued from her body. The energy blast did not only destroy the back side of the throne chamber, but also ripped the whole roof and parts of the corridor away. Stones, dust and some tiles rained down on the soldiers, but they were not severely hurt.

»Oh… whoops.« Pan said and let her arms down. »This was too strong…«

»Shoot her! Shoot her!« the fat king yelled. »And help me to my safe place!« Two of the bodyguards grabbed the king at his arms and dragged him out of the remains of the broken roof, then they started to run to the bunker, and the other five soldiers fired their guns on Pan. She used her speed to avoid the bullets, but they slowly chased her down the corridor towards the other soldiers that came running from the headquarter of the palace-guards.

A bullet scratched Pan at the upper side of her left shoulder – the hurt felt like the bit of a snake, and it seemed as if her powers started to decrease immediately. Did they have poisonous bullets? Her left arm went some kind of numb; it was not bad, but if one of that bullets would hit her full, and would remain in her body, it must be worse. It was going for her life now, and… for the life of her baby.

»I am sorry but you do not give me another chance!« she yelled at the soldiers and fired another mighty Kame-Hame-Ha at them, but she could only take one side of the corridor. Her back was unprotected and one of the soldiers wanted to use that. The "Tribe" people were cowards and did never fight fair. He threw a big knife at her. One moment before it could hit the target, another person was between the weapon and Pan´s back.

The knife hit the Tsufurian in the shoulder of the already missing arm, but he took it with pride, ripped it out again and yelled, smashing the weapon at the floor: »That fits you, you cowards! An attack from behind!« with his sane hand he fired an energy shot down the corridor and wiped out the soldiers that were there.

Pan whirled round and asked: »Why did you do that…?«

»To pay back a little bit of my guilt. But now let´s go to the bunker. Maybe they need you there. I gave the key to the old butler, but then I left them to come back to you.«

But luckily everything was all right. When they arrived at the bunker some young Thaioshtian men had caught the king. The two bodyguards were unconscious but alive, and there had been no severe hurts in the group of the Thaioshtians.

Pan went to the king and said: »And now you think again about the possibility of a peace contract. Maybe somehow your people and the Thaioshtians can find a way to live together in freedom. I cannot believe that all of your folk are like you, king… At least the children of your kind deserve a chance. This planet is their home, and everything they know.«

The king growled, but he nodded: »Yes, we can talk about… a new kind of treatment for the Thaioshtians. They could get more rights, maybe I will cut the taxes…«

Pan shook her head: »No, Sir! That is not what I meant. I was talking about a new world order; I was talking about freedom and independence for both of your species. It would not be a good thing to hunt your people away from this planet… because at least one full generation has grown up here and this is their home. But everything has to change! The Thaioshtians are definitely not your slaves anymore! Have you understood that now?«

The king of the "Tribe" bowed his head. Pan smiled. The Rebels would take over the rest. She was sure that Huryn and Rukal would be good conversation partners for this king, and it was true… the Thaioshtians had to start to build up their own future.

She turned to the servants: »I will look for the chief of the Rebels, who attack the soldier fort in the town, and send some representatives here. Keep the king and his surviving soldiers as your prisoners, but treat them well. Don´t be like them. You are different…

Before they left, helped the Tsufurian to get his shoulder bandaged, then they flew out through the window to the soldier´s fort. The rebels were still fighting there, but after two energy-blasts from Pan the soldiers gave up their weapons. She talked to Huryn and Rukal, who both agreed to go to the kings palace. The first steps for a peaceful and free future were done, and Pan and Furyon went back to Tomam and Adan.

At the next evening there was a big party at the village of Relenni, and they heard of many other feasts and celebrations round the planet. All the young people had to learn what it meant to be free, but fortunately there were still some older ones, who would teach them. And Pan was happy; finally she could let her Aura shine, so that her family would find her. Unfortunately there had been no trans-universe-radio in the palace or in one of the "Tribe´s" space ships – because they had no friends to which they´d like to talk to out there, and the spacecrafts were too old to fly. She could not get away and she could not call them, so she had to hope that her family could sense her Aura somehow.

To relax and calm down after the exciting days, Pan went for a lonely walk through the small wood, when all the celebrations were over. For this time she left Furyon alone with her old friends, because one day she had to start to trust him somehow; she couldn't be there to supervise him the whole time, and after all that fighting and celebrating she noticed, that the efforts of the last days had been almost a little bit too much for her. Slowly she walked around the little lake, where she had first met the Rebel Rukal, when her foot suddenly bumped against something that lay in the grass.

She bowed down and picked up the crystal ball-like thing. It was so ugly that she nearly decided to drop it again; but then she took a closer look at it. The thing was greenish with a very dark center-sphere. Three other semi-invisible spheres were around that fourth center sphere and each of them rotated in another way, issuing eerie greenish-and-dark light effects. Somehow it remembered Pan of a Dragon Ball – like if it was an odd sibling of the Four-Star-Dragon-Ball. Maybe this thing had some kind of meaning… so she took it with her, despite its ugliness.

When she arrived at the house she called her "home" on Thaioshti, everybody else was asleep. It was quiet and calm, but to be sure that he had done nothing, she took a short look after the mutant. It was, as if suddenly some shadow of doubt had crept in her heart, so that she mistrusted her own judging… But he was asleep too, as well as the two old people; and she could sense nothing different. He surely had not tried to attack Tomam and Adan, but... Pans doubt was not gone. Did he really change or was he only up to betray her, waiting for the right moment? _Darn, how could I ever trust him_…

She retreated to her room and placed the Dragon Ball-like thing on the little cupboard next to her bed. It filled the small chamber with his unholy, greenish light, and when she was ready to lie down, she looked at the crystal-ball and the whirling and changing movements. It was as if every move inside that greenish globe would raise the fears that she had tried to lock up deep inside her for a long time. The nightmares were returning, and without really knowing why she started to cry, tears ran down her face. They were all dying. The mutant´s creature did not do it because it hated them; it was only because it was able to do it. There was no emotion on the face or in the eyes of that creature, but her family… was gone. And then it started again, more detailed, she saw Vegeta die horrendously slow and painful, and her mother, how she cried when Urian was killed before her eyes… no!

She sat up with a shriek and only a few minutes later Adan was at her side. The shock of the visions had not really gone, and the old woman softly shook Pan to call her back to presence. »What happened? Have you had a bad dream?« Adan asked.

Tomam and Furyon had entered the room too, and whilst Tomam went away again to make some calming tea, Furyon stretched out his hand for the green crystal ball.

»Where do you have this from?« he asked. »Why is it here, next to your bed?«

»I found it outside.« Pan explained. »It somehow remembered me of a Dragon Ball.«

»In fact, it _is_ a Dragon Ball.« the Tsufurian answered. »But a bad one. I once read the story about the Black Heart Dragon Balls, and this must be one of them. They are a source and storage device for negative and vicious energy. They suck up all the fears and violence they meet on their way to bring them back to their master, so that the energy serves him as a life source. It must not stay so close to you. Throw it away.«

Pan replied: »But somehow I know that it is important that I keep it.«

Adan shivered: »Then let us put it into the big cupboard where we do not see it. I do not like that thing too. It makes me shiver.«

Pan agreed, but it was also clear that she would not find sleep again right now; she was still too nervous that the nightmares might come back. Tomam returned with the tea, and put the cup on the little cupboard next to the bed.

Adan proposed: »Why don´t we talk a little bit? Tell me something from your family. Some nice memories would be fine. I am sure that you have a lot of them.«

»If you´d like to listen…« Pan said and smiled a bit. »Have I ever told you how it happened, that Trunks and I ended up married?«

»No, you never did.« Tomam said. »You hardly ever spoke about your husband, because it was easier for you to lock your missing love away deep inside you.«

Pan smiled: »Yes, it was, but… I think you will like the story.«

Tomam and Adan nodded, but the old man went out again to get chairs for himself and for Furyon, because they could not all sit at the edge of Pans bed. Then she started the story. »As I told you before, I know Trunks since I can remember and…«


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: A secret revealed**

»…When I was very young, I learnt to know Trunks as the best friend of my uncle Goten. They went to the same high school, and Trunks was frequently at our place. He was always nice and kind to me. Later I saw him more rarely; he learnt a lot to get the best results in his High School graduation, because he wanted to go to the big Western-Elite-University; and to be accepted there one must be brilliant. But we were still good friends; our families celebrated every major event together, and met from time to time on weekends. Trunks finished his studies in a record-worthy time and started working as the youngest-ever vice president of the Capsule Corporation. Of course also Bulla, my sister-in-law is a very good friend of me, but she is three years older than I am and was therefore in a higher grade in school; most times we met after school in the park or something.

Ten years ago, Trunks, my grandpa and I went on our journey through the galaxy to find all the Black Star Dragon Balls, which this odd Prince Pilaf had misused. We were together for almost nine months… It was, despite all the fights and the difficulties one of the best times in my life. But after the best time, there often follows the worst. About one year after my grandpa defeated the Shadow dragons, I went to High-school; and Trunks left the Western Capital to go to the East Coast. He had to supervise the development of the Eastern Headquarter of the Capsule Corporation. I was damned angry! I did not understand why he could walk away from his family and friends so easily! I refused to talk to him for almost one year; he called at my birthday for example… and I did not reply, but hung up. I was so stubborn at this time! Then an old friend, whom I got to know while we were fighting the six-star-dragon, came to visit me during the summer holidays. He was my first boyfriend; and I taught him to fly, but we broke up in autumn, when my second year in High School started… he went back to his fisher village, because he wanted to become a great fisher and sea-bird-expert, and I was disappointed that I´ve been left back.« She sighed.

The others looked at her curiously, therefore Pan continued: »This was the moment, when I realized, that in truth I was not _angry,_ but deeply unhappy because Trunks left… but it was too late. Two days before Thanksgiving Day I witnessed a talk where Bulma told my grandmother that Trunks had found a girl at the East Coast, and that she, Vegeta and Bulla were invited to visit them… for the celebration of their engagement, on Thanksgiving Day.«

Adan shook her head: »He had a fiancée?«

»Yes.« Pan smiled weakly. »Her name was Lima, she seemed to be ok… Bulla told me about her, when we met a week or so after Thanksgiving. I did not really want to hear that, but I did Bulla the favor and listened. I did not see Trunks for years; he had much to do in the Eastern Headquarter, and visited his family only when he had a meeting in the Main Capsule Corp. building; and only for short times; most times I only knew from tales that he had been here again; sometimes Lima was with him, sometimes not. When I was seventeen, we were all invited to Bullas wedding day and it…« she smiled.

»I was there with my boyfriend Kevin, whom I dated since I was fourteen. I really thought that I loved Kevin… but… to see Trunks and his fiancée, was more than I could take. I needed all my strength to stay there until the end of the celebration, and… the whole time Trunks had hardly one word for me. He always looked away, when I was next to him, or started a talk with another guest. Of course I was convinced that this must have been my fault… maybe I looked so sad, that he did not know what to do with me. I can´t remember any other day when I cried that much. I broke up with my friend only one week later, and when my family was invited to see Bullas twins about four months later, I went there with mom, dad and my little brother.« She took a sip of the tea.

»As soon as I arrived at Bullas house, she told me that Trunks and Lima had announced a term for their wedding; the next summer, and to my shock they wanted to celebrate it in my hometown. There was no real excuse for me not to take part in this ceremony. Oh, how I wished that they would have chosen to get married on a South-Sea-Island, so that I could have said that I would not go, because I had to learn for the College… but no. The following months had been a disaster, but slowly I learnt to accept it.«

:-:

Gohan and Goten were puzzled. As soon as Bulma had been ready with the repairs on the bigger ship, they had launched again. Shane was feeling better, but he also had remained behind, and so only the two brothers were driving the second ship. For the flash of a second Gohan had thought, that he could feel Pans Aura, one single moment, where she did something big… maybe an attack. But she had felt strong, and unchanged, as if she had been able to fight her kidnapper and flee.

»She´s hiding.« he said with hard voice. »I don´t think that she is still with this Tsufurian. But surely he will find her, when she shows her Aura, so she shields it.« he smiled. »I think she is ok, at last that little glimpse of her life-energy felt good.«

It had been too short to find out her position, but it was positive enough that they should be able to send good news to earth and to the other space ship. Everyone was in need to hear something that could give them a little bit of relief.

Goten said: »I think, when we use the satellites of this planet… ehm… Kyilla, then we could get a good signal to the earth. I set course in the orbit.« He steered the ship next to one of the bigger communication satellites, and Gohan went out in his space suit to connect a cable from the ship´s radio to the satellite.

Meanwhile Goten asked the inhabitants of Kyilla if it was ok that they used their satellite, but they agreed and so they could start the transmission. It was a good, nearly perfect video signal. The brothers were both so excited, that they could hardly decide who would tell the others the good news, but when they had them all in front of the screen, Goten and Gohan noticed, that something must have happened on earth.

»Can you tell us what this is?« Videl asked and showed them a greenish crystal ball via video screen. It had two spheres inside, one dark hidden in a whirling greenish one. »We think this could be one of those Dark Heart Dragon Balls. But why is this here? I thought that our three heroes would wish _Pan_ back to earth, and not only one of those ugly crystal balls.«

Bulma explained: »They have a similar radiation to the Dragon Balls we know from earth, but it is as if it works reverse, it draws energy from outside, not emits it. Little Kaya found it outside our house, yesterday. Have you got an idea why this one is here?«

»I do not know.« Gohan replied. »Vegeta and Trunks said that the Dark Heart Dragon Balls are always at the center of the galaxy. I have no explanation why they should have left this place all for a sudden. Have you tried to call them?«

»Of course I have!« Bulma yelled. »I tried every hour since we found that thing. It is as if they are not there!« She sighed. »But something else has happened. Finally we had time to continue the talk about that keys Koris´ uncle gave her. You remember? We almost forgot it because of your flight preparations. And they are the keys of Pan´s and Trunk´s house…«

»Pans house?« Gohan was shocked. »But… how by all means could Kori´s uncle get Pans keys? … Bulma, could it be that… I hope you are not trying to tell me that…«

»We also thought of that. Maybe Pan somehow… wait… wait a moment.«

Gohan did not like the anxious change in Bulmas voice, but then the video-monitor was turned a little bit and he could see another screen. Goten squeezed next to him so that he also could watch. At the other screen there was only snow and sometimes a little flash of color, but the audio transmission was good.

:-:

»… do you read?« the voice was getting clearer. »Trunks to earth… do you read?«

»Yes, we hear you! Over!« Bulla replied instead of her mother. »Are you ok? Why didn´t you call us earlier! We were worried!«

Trunks replied: »There is no time to be worried, tell everyone that we have to search for the Dark Heart Dragon Balls. The dragon granted us a wish, and we will find Goku´s granddaughter with the last of them. We can aim our radars at the signal of the Dragon Balls and that will lead us to her sooner or later.«

»Oh, that is wonderful!« Videl cried out and hugged her son, and Chichi.

But Bulma asked: »Trunks, what´s wrong with you?« Although he had told her such good news, his voice was cold and without any emotion.

Vegeta shouted: »The sacrifice for the dragon! That's what he got!«

Goku roared: »He messed it up! We told him to be quiet, but he messed it up!«

Vegeta yelled: »The dragon took his greatest love away…«

Goku replied at loud voice: »I never knew that the dragon would be that vicious!«

Vegeta cried: »Yes, but _you_ were the one that came up with that idea! You should never have mentioned those Dragon Balls!«

Goku bellowed back: »And now it is my fault again? How could I ever know that the dragon would do something like this, or that Trunks is that…_grah!_…Don't hit me!«

»You already knew that he´s out of his mind, Kakarott! You should have known beforehand that he´ll do something stupid!« Vegeta shouted.

»But he is _your_ son! I thought he´d be a little bit wiser…«

The radio signal got worse, and they were hardly understandable, but then the calm voice of Trunks mixed up with the two other ones. »Could you please stop it, we´ll lose the signal soon and there is something very important I need to tell them.« Even now, when the two others were fighting behind his back like mad, he was still cold and relaxed.

Goku and Vegeta were immediately quiet.

Trunks carried on: »As far as I remember, the other ship has a Dragon Radar on board, but we would need Giru here. Please send him to us. We are currently on the way to the eastern side of the galaxy; we make a rendezvous-point with Giru somewhere.«

Videl said loud: »Wait, Trunks, there are only six Dragon Balls left, the two-sphere-one is here with us at earth!«

Trunks replied: »That´s fine… my mother analyze it, she surely can find out the precise data…. which kind of energy they emit… Please feed Giru with the new signal data and w...« the signal was lost, the screen was dark.

:-:

Gohan, who had still a perfect signal to earth, said: »That did not sound too good. Even _I_ noticed that something is wrong with Trunks, and I am at the other end of the galaxy. We´ll stay linked to that good satellite until you sent us the data of the Dragon Ball, Bulma. So please hurry on.«

»I will.« said Bulma, happy to have something to do, that could distract her. »Urian, would you help me please? I´ll need a good second brain here. Bulla, please try to find our old radar in the cellar, we´ll need it for the tests. Giru, would you come with us, please?« She went to her analyze desk and Pans little brother followed her, and the small robot, who rested next to an energy source, lifted and flew after Bulma too.

The others could not take that so easy, they knew that something had happened, and maybe that would be the worst thing of all. Videl called Valese and Merve, so that they could speak to Goten via telephone, then she cast a long look to Kori and said: »I think we have got to talk. Let us drive to the house of my daughter together…«

»All right, Videl.« Kori answered. »I´d be very happy, if someone could explain these strange coincidences to me.«

:-:

»Pan, are you ready?« with these words of her mother, Pan was brought back to reality. She had been lost in thoughts again. Videl carried on: »We want to have breakfast, and then we need to get ready for the celebration. They start at eleven.«

Sighing, Pan went downstairs. She was eighteen now, and she had had almost half a year time to get used to the fact that Trunks and Lima were going to be married at this day. But still she felt like filled with liquid lead, and she was not really hungry when she sat down at the table. Her younger brother was nervous and eager to go to the wedding feast, because he knew that there would be many special things to eat.

Urian asked: »Momma, you were at Bulma´s house yesterday. You must have seen something of that wedding-place in the garden. Can´t you tell me? Is it a secret?«

Videl nodded: »Yes, I was there with your grandmother, we helped Bulma and Bulla with the preparing. They did not invite many people, only the close family and friends. It will be a nice get-together. Merve will also be there, so you have at least your cousin to play. And we have finished the cake yesterday, it has three layers!«

»Ooh…« Urian was gazing in awe. »Can I eat as much cake as I like?«

Son Gohan smiled: »Of course. There will be plenty for everyone.«

The doorbell was ringing, and Chichi jumped to her feet: »Good gracious, this can´t be the cab? Have we missed the time, or what?« She ran to open the door, but to her relief it was only the deliveryman from the laundry, who brought their clothes. She came back to the dinner room with her hands full of washed, ironed and packed clothes; and smiled: »Come everyone! Eat up! Take your things!«

Gohan smiled: »Calm down, mother, we won´t be late… my coffee is still too hot…«

Chichi shook her head: »No, no… hurry. I´ll bring the clothes to your rooms, and when I am back, you will be ready with breakfast, because then I will start to clean up the table! I want to return in a clean house this evening…«

Videl smirked and said: »That´s so typical for your mother, Gohan…« She turned to her mother-in-law »But Chichi, I will help you, so we will be faster with cleaning.«

»Thank you…« Chichi said, and left the dinner room for a moment, to find a safe place where she could put the clothes for a while, until they were ready to get dressed.

Pan tried to drink at least some coffee, for breakfast, but she put the cup away soon. »I´ll go upstairs.« she said. »I think I… need another shower before I get dressed.«

Videl followed her to the stairs: »You are so quiet. Is everything ok? You know that you can tell me everything.«

»No, mama, it is nothing, I only had a bad night, that's all.«

When she was alone in her room, she ripped the plastic foal off the dark-red dress that she was going to wear. She did not want to go to his wedding. More mechanically than really wanting, she started to get her hair finished, like her mother and grandmother she wanted to put it up to a bun, and let only two curled strands down at the sides of her face. When she finally wore her make-up, the dress and the high heel shoes, she looked at herself in the mirror, and it seemed as if time passed by in super-speed. She did not want to go.

»Pan! Where are you?« her father yelled from the entrance hall. »The cab is here!«

She hurried downstairs and met her whole family next to the exit. The cab-driver carried the bags that were full of small presents, to the car.

Videl was in front of the door, checking the sky. In the distance it looked like rain, but here the weather was still fine. Only to be sure, she took some umbrellas and a rain coat for Urian with them. To store them, she put them into a capsule.

Gohan waved for Pan, who was still standing at the last step: »Come on; this is the wedding of one if your best friends. You don´t want to be late, won´t you?« he smiled.

»Dad.« Pan whispered. »Dad, please let me stay here.«

Chichi asked, suddenly worried: »Do you feel sick? Wait, I´ve got an old recipe that will make it better within an instant. Just try that dried salamander-skin with cobweb-tears…«

Videl cast a long look at her daughter; then she said: »No one will force you to come with us. But you will be missed there; and we are not gonna make up an excuse for you. You´ll have to explain that alone, if they ask you.«

Pan tried to avoid the looks of her family and said: »I am sorry if I disappoint you. But I… simply can´t go. Please don´t be mad with me.«

Gohan smiled: »This is your decision, Pan, and we are not mad at you.« he opened the door a little bit wider and stepped outside. »We won´t take our mobile phones with us, Pan, if you want to reach us, for whatever reason, call the entrance guard of Bulmas house.« Videl, Chichi and Urian followed him to the taxi.

Maybe they still hoped that Pan would change her mind and join them, but she still stood at the last step, and did not move, not even to close the door. She saw the white cab leave and felt the chilly wind rush in the house through the open door. Finally she closed the entrance, and went to her room again. It needed another half an hour ere she decided to take off the dress. She put on some casual clothing; a pair of Jeans and a red sweatshirt, and tried to watch TV for a while, but she could not stand it to be in this house all alone; so she ran out of the door and flew to a place that she really liked. It was a sunny rock with a small plateau that overlooked a medium-sized lake. The water was calm, only from time to time a gust of wind made the surface shiver and the red water-lilies float up and down. On her watch she could see, that it was close to eleven. They must be all in the garden now, all happy, and maybe someone wondered where she was… but she couldn´t… she…

Pan was so deeply lost in her thoughts, that she only recognized the change in the weather, because it had started to rain softly. The clouds must have been approaching fast, blown nearer by the cold wind. But she did not move; the approaching rainfall did not matter to her. Soon the soft rain became stronger and within minutes she was soaking wet, but she did not care. The water that ran down her face mixed up with her tears and washed them away, but it was no use to cry now, it was too late. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her legs, and put the head on her knees. Somehow she thought that it would help her to curl up as small as possible. The rain still rushed down like a constant curtain of water.

Suddenly, a fleece-lined rain-jacket was put around her shoulders. It held of the wind and was still a little bit warm; the person who had given her that jacket must have worn it until now. She had not heard someone coming, and there was no street for a car, so she was almost sure that this visitor must have been flying to this place. Surely her father had decided to look after her, and because he had not found her at home, he had started to search her. Of course he knew that this was one of her favorite places, so he looked here too. She tried to rub her eyes clear with the sleeve of her sweater, so that her father wouldn´t see, that she had been crying; but her face only got wetter when she touched it with the sopping-wet textile.

When she looked up, she noticed at once, that it was not her father, but Trunks, and his fine black suit started to get soaking-wet too. He smiled and sat down on the wet rock next to her. »A nice place.« he said. »I remember it from earlier days. Goten and I were swimming in this lake sometimes… and once your dad convinced me to swim in a battle against him here. I never was that close to drowning before or after. And your dad was never closer to get killed by my mother; I think…« he laughed. »But that is not why I am here. You had already left your house when I called that morning. I thought you were also in the cab, but when your family arrived, they told me that you didn´t want to come. So I decided to search you.«

»Please excuse me. I messed up your wedding… I am sorry.« Pan was close to cry again, to avoid it and to change the topic, she asked: »Did it also start to rain there?«

»Yes, it started to rain, but that was not important. There was no wedding.«

Pan sobbed and requested: »Did you try to call, to tell us, that you changed the term, because of the bad weather report? When is the new term? I will come for sure then…«

»There is no new term. Lima and I decided… not to get married. We´ve had a long, _a very long _talk yesterday; and we both agreed that we had a good time together, but that it is not enough… I… I am probably not… well…« he cleared his throat. »I am the cause.«

»You? How can _you_ be the cause for a breakup? I can´t believe that. As far as I know you, you´d never give up someone, whom you love.« She looked away. »Forgive me. This isn´t my business. I exceeded my bounds.«

»You did nothing wrong … _I _did… somehow.« he replied. »When I met you at Bullas wedding, I could hardly believe it... I felt like a fool and was embarrassed and… bewildered; because the first that came to my mind was that I´ve lost you to another man; and this thought nearly broke my heart. It´s silly, isn´t it?« he laughed desperately. »I could hardly talk to you, because I was sure that you would notice it somehow. You´ve got your friend, and you are many years younger than I am. What would you ever do with a man like me? I understood that it was hopeless, but I was still so overwhelmed…well… I… it _is_ strange, isn´t it? I left you as a little girl and I felt only friendship for you, and then I see you again and… _wham_, it strikes me like thunder … that… I love you, Pan.«

Pan did not answer. She was quiet; too puzzled to think of any words, and looked at him in silence. In the meantime he was as wet as she; water ran down his hair, and face, in the collar of his shirt, and it dripped from his soaking clothes. Never before she had noticed that she really knew him that good – she could see from the look in his eyes and his clenched jaws that he felt quite uncomfortable and that she made it worse, by giving him no reply.

»I am so sorry.« he finally said. »I only thought you should know.« He stood up and started to walk away a few steps, preparing to fly; and Pan almost missed him.

Then she jumped to her feet and embraced him from behind. She leaned on his back and whispered: »Please don´t leave me. I don´t want anybody else but you.«

Pan finished her story: »And then we kissed for the first time, up on that windy rock, under the pouring rain…«

»Wow, what a story.« Adan said and let herself sink back to lean on the edge of the foot-side wall of the bed. »This was really a good story.«

Tomam grumbled: »Now she´s surely going to mock me again; because my first date with her was such a mess…«

Pan asked: »What happened?«

The old man said: »It's a short story. Well, I knew her from the village, and when I came to pick her up for the first time, I was very afraid of her father. I knew that I had to ask him for his allowance, and I was searching for the right words. To distract me I walked around the house, and because I had my head full of thoughts, I never looked where I set my feet, and I did not notice that the cesspit was open. I fell in there with a loud shriek.«

Adan continued: »My father and my brother got him out there, and my mother washed him with the hosepipe, because he smelled horrible. He was too exhausted to let him go home, and so my father decided that he could stay at our house. Mother stuffed him into an old, thick blanket-cover and closed it, by sewing it tight around his neck; then he was allowed to sleep at the spare bed. I spent the whole night with him and we talked. I think that was much nicer than the date at the village-feast. We got married one year later, and we maybe were one of the last couples that married in freedom, before the "Tribe" came.«

Pan smiled: »That was also a lovely story… thank you for telling it to me. It is possible that this tea starts to work… I feel much calmer now.« She took another sip of tea, although it was already cold.

Tomam said: »Well, then we will let you alone now, I am sure that you will find sleep. If you should need us, we will be right here.« He pushed his wife and Furyon out of the room and closed the door.

:-:

When the signal was lost, Trunks switched off the radio, because the hiss and the cracking were unbearable. He leaned back in his seat and sighed. »We lost them too early. This might be a bad sign…« He started to check out something in the computer. They were three days away from the black space around the planet of the Dragon of the Dark Chaos now, and this had been the first real chance to talk to the others. While he was reading the data, he seemed to be relieved, but he did not let the others know why; instead of that he told the other two: »We´ll reach the next good radio position in five days.«

Goku and Vegeta did hardly listen; they were not interested in radio-transmissions or computer-results. They wanted to know what happened on that dark planet, but Trunks had hardly talked to them in the past days; and the worst of all times were the first hours.

It had been dead quiet in the ship until they had lost sight of the dark planet. When they finally crossed the invisible barrier and could see the stars again, this could have been a relief, but it wasn´t; because Trunks had locked himself in the upper deck with two computers and without any further explanations. When he returned from up there, he immediately went to sleep; but Vegeta and Goku knew very well that he was awake and only avoided to be together with them.

Although the two others had tried everything – even jokes, to bring him back to his normal behavior, he had not changed his mind; and they were very worried now. What did the dragon take away from him? Did he take so much, that Trunks forgot everything, even his family? Maybe Vegeta and Goku were nothing more than passengers for him now, and he thought that he was only their pilot who was paid to get them from here to there. These had been three very hard days.

But now Trunks put the small computer aside and took a deep breath: »I think it is time.« he said. »I´ve got a lot to explain you.«

Vegeta replied: »You want to _explain_ us something? Skip the explanations, and tell us what the dragon did to you.«

Trunks carried on: »It was all his idea.« he pointed with one finger at Goku.

»Mine?!« Goku exclaimed and was shocked. »Why the heck was it _my_ idea?«

Trunks smiled: »Because I had to swear, that I won´t do something foolish again.«

Vegeta growled: »Uh, yes, nothing _foolish_. And as a result of this promise you´ve specialized on _profound idiocy_ now, or what?«

»Hey…« Goku protested. »I never told him to...«

Trunks laughed out loud, and hurried to say: »No, no, Goku said that I should use my brain before I do something. And that´s what I did! I talked to this dragon on full purpose; to make him notice me. I _hoped_ that he would choose me for his sacrifice.«

»Are you serious?« Goku asked and sat down. »But that was a great risk.«

»It was worth it. In addition to the try, to make the dragon eager to take his sacrifice from me, I was up to get some additional information about him. I needed to know, if the dragon is able read our minds, or if it is possible for him to keep us under observance even now. I did not want to risk that we step in another trap; but in his eagerness the dragon told me almost everything I needed to know – except the fact that the Dragon Balls would fly away after the wish has been granted; because we were interrupted a moment too early.«

Goku whispered: »Sorry about that, but… I did not know.«

»Never mind, Goku.« Trunks reassured him.

Vegeta also sat down now: »I still do not understand why you had this plan…«

»It may sound a little bit weird, but… you remember Kori, right? When I talked to her, she said to me "that her mother died of a broken heart because her father had forgotten to love her". When I first saw the dragon, I recalled these words… and started thinking.«

»Still not clearer.« Goku demanded. »What does _Kori_ have to do with it?«

»I think she is my daughter; that means Pan is her mother. And why the heck should I ever _forget_ to love Pan? Her words set an alarm signal loose in my thoughts, because something really vast must have happened in Kori´s past, to make me forget Pan. I thought, that this could probably be the "thing" the dragon took for a sacrifice – right? And as you have witnessed, he _actually_ _tried_ to take my greatest love: The love I feel for Pan. The conclusion leads back to Kori´s tale. It´s like drawing circles in your mind.« Trunks replied.

Goku nodded: »Yes, but really odd circles. How could you ever concentrate on that, when we were standing in front of this creature, and while you were talking to him like his greatest admirer?«

»I was done with those thoughts before I started to talk to him.« Trunks smiled, but this was even more surprising, because this time frame had been even much shorter.

»How comes it, that you could ever think that this Saiyan woman is related to you?« Vegeta asked. »I mean, yes, I also saw her, but… I must have been out of my mind. She actually told me that she came _back_ from somewhere. Back in time…«

Goku giggled: »But years ago, when Trunks´ alter-ego from the other future came to help us, you also did not recognize him as your son. Although it was obvious.«

Vegeta looked away: »Don´t remind me of that. That was embarrassing. Back to the story about Kori and your plan, Trunks.«

The younger man continued: »I somehow felt linked to her, I couldn´t say why. She looks more like you father, but she´s got quite Pan´s eyes – except for the color, of course, and some of her movements are like her mothers. And don´t forget that you, father, and Goku were the only remaining Saiyans that we know of. Even if she _should_ _eventually_ be the descendant of some other Saiyan survivor who took a human partner, the last proof was given to me when the dragon really wanted to take my greatest love, which fitted her story.«

»But what _did_ he take, if not that?« Goku asked.

»Well, I knew that the dragon would check out my brain to find something really worthy for him, but I did not let him do it. I locked him out, and led him on a false track. I realized that I am able to shield my brain from alien attacks, when this mutant, baby, first tried to possess me, back on planet Pital. I guided him to where I wished him to go, and he did not notice, because my sweet-talking made him big-headed; and self-centered creatures are easy to betray. I showed him my "greatest love", the only thing that brings joy in my life.«

Vegeta requested: »May we know what this is?«

Trunks started to smile, then he cleared his throat and said: »One of the rocks in the cave reminded me if Master Roshi, and then I had the idea: My dearest passion is it, to hide in the bathroom, with a good bottle of beer and a handful of… "dirty" magazines. I never lock the door, because the possibility that someone comes in and sees me, is an extra bonus.« Meanwhile he laughed tears.

Goku and Vegeta blushed and none of them could believe that Trunks could think of such an embarrassing story in such a short time; and he must have constructed this story so good, that the dragon really bought it… this was almost incredible.

»Of course that´s been his mothers genes.« Vegeta said. »I could never think of any tale like this. But I am happy that you got such a brilliant brain.« Then he laughed.

Also Goku was laughing tears, and between the laughs he stuttered: »I am pretty sure that you were the first one ever who was able to trick out this evil creature…« he stopped laughing and was dead serious within the next instant. »But I think that this should be our secret. We must not tell anyone else; and especially not talk about it when we have found one of those Dragon Balls. They are weird, and maybe they also can listen somehow. The dragon must never know anything about this.«


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: The first contact**

Meanwhile Goten and Gohan had the emission frequency of the Dart Heart Dragon Balls, and were hurrying after the nearest one. They did not exactly know what to expect, because they had only seen the green Dragon Ball in the video Transmission, but surely there was something strange, some vicious thing about them. Videl had told them in their second transmission that Urian, as well as Bulma, and even Bulla, who had only spent a short time with the Dark Heart Dragon Ball, had been very nervous and close to a breakdown. Everyone of them told a horrifying story; each one had had a bad vision when he or she looked at the Dragon Ball for too long. And when Videl tried it, she also saw something very bad happen – she saw how her husband Gohan died in a massive flash of light – but it was not an instant death, it was as if he was eaten up alive by the flames.

After that, they had locked the Dragon Ball in an empty safe and the strange feelings had gone, but the memory of them still was present, and this shadow towered over the family. They all understood fast, that Kori was much more linked to them than they had ever expected, and to know that she was the daughter of Pan, should have made them happy… but it was not really so; also in the space-ship the two brothers were uneasy about that fact.

»Why did Kori tell us that she grew up without knowing her father or her mother, or her real family?« Gohan asked at low voice.

Goten shook his head: »I can´t tell. But something very bad must have happened. Even if Pan died – she would have tried to send her daughter home at all costs, so that she can grow up with her family. She would never leave her child to someone else… and we still do not know the name of this "uncle". Maybe he never told Kori his real name, but, maybe she promised him, not to reveal his identity.«

Gohan took a deep breath: »Could it be that… this uncle is our enemy? What the hell must have happened, that he of all people raised a _Saiyan_ child? Where are we? None of us would have let that come to pass! We would have tried to get her back, somehow. And Trunks? I do not understand that. He´s her father, I think…«

Goten growled: »I know him, he´d never stop or forget to love Pan. But… Gohan, what if this was the price the dragon took?«

Gohan looked away: »I thought of this too, but even if he forgot to _love_ Pan, he is still Trunks and he would have helped us to get back my daughter, your niece, Gokus granddaughter… because he´d still know us. And we would have told him that he´s got a child, and he would have learnt to love that little baby… no, something very bad must have happened… to all of us, so that Kori had no other place to go to. Maybe even this mutant has some kind of conscience and was not able to let a helpless baby behind.«

A shudder raced through Goten´s body. »What if we get killed on our search for the Dragon Balls, and… what if the mutant somehow already got what he wanted, an even mightier heir, a kind of Tsuyan…« he sighed. »Or maybe we died in a fight with the mutant… what if he came to earth and killed all of our family members.«

Gohan whispered: »And actually we let the gate to earth wide open; Trunks and Vegeta are gone, and we left earth too. There is only Majuub who might be able to fight; but he has not trained for a long time; and Bulla; but she´s never been a fighter, and maybe her twins, but they are still too young. My son won´t be able to withstand any attack of this Tsufurian; and our wives… I also think that Kori never trained. But she could learn it, if there would be enough time.«

The younger man did not hesitate, although the connection to earth was very bad at this time, he sent them a message, to let them know about the thoughts that he and his brother had had. Bulla answered that they somehow had had the same ideas, and she promised, although she did not like to fight, that she would go to some training sessions with Kori, and Videl offered her help as trainer; at least she knew some martial arts techniques.

»We should also start some training here.« Gohan proposed his brother. »We haven´t got much room in this ship, but for a little bit of sparring it will be ok. The auto-pilot will guide us to the first Dragon Ball.«

Goten said: »I agree. But we have to be cautious. There must be another difficulty, I can´t believe that we should be able to find those vicious Dragon Balls that easy.«

His forecast was right… when they reached the place where the radar had detected the Dragon Ball, they found themselves next to a small moon, that hovered in the orbit of a very big gas planet; not much different from Jupiter maybe, but the giant planet´s surface was greenish. The immense gravity of that gas giant made it difficult to approach the small moon, and when they had finally landed, the moon´s own gravity was so low that they were in constant danger to fly helpless into the open space if they would make one too high jump.

Gohan anchored the ship with three steel ropes and hooks in the stony surface, then they got off with the radar.

»I suggest that we should use our gravity-shoes here.« Goten said, when he first touched the ground. »I feel like a feather…«

Under earth´s gravity conditions, each one of those boots had weighed fifty pounds, but as soon as Gohan had them thrown out of the ship they were only a little help to keep the Saiyans on the ground.

»Luckily it´s not far away.« Gohan said when he also was outside. »One and a quarter mile into this direction.«

But bad luck was waiting for them; the Dragon Ball was below the surface of the moon, and the holes and craters in this particular place were too small for a grown up man to fit through. It seemed as if the Dark Heart Dragon Ball had chosen this place for purpose, because everywhere else there were bigger caves, or even flat, dust filled craters, where the two Saiyans could have get the crystal ball much easier.

Goten said: »I´ll try it with small Ki-Blasts. Maybe I can widen one of these entrances, so that I´ll fit in. Would you please hold me down, so that the ricochet does not blast me off into space? I never tried flying in the vacuum before, maybe I won´t be able to come back.«

»Of course…« Gohan answered, and for safety he shot another explosive anchor into the surface of the moon and secured both of them with a steel rope.

The Ki-Blasts did not much harm to the surface; it was as if they were made of a very hard material. After a while they changed places, but when Gohan had fired his first three shots, something else distracted them. The moon had started to move; before it had been slowly drifting in the orbit, but now the misty surface of the gas planet rushed by above them.

»Something´s wrong, big brother, can you explain this?« Goten asked.

»I can´t. But I do not like it. We have to hurry up.«

»Do you think that we caused this moon to move so fast with our blasts?« Goten wanted to know.

»I don´t think so, there comes another moon and it is also flying very fast. Something else must cause this.« A red, much bigger moon passed by the small rock moon very close, and the smaller moon started into a queer rotation, influenced by the gravity of the bigger one.

»We´re almost there!« Gohan said. »Only three more shots, the Dragon Ball is in some sort of cavern…« He fired, and the pieces of the rocks blasted far out into space. Then he bowed down and started to crawl into the hole, but his brother pulled him back at the iron rope: »Goten, what? I can see the Dragon Ball´s light down there, what do you…« He followed Goten´s outstretched hand and looked up in the sky, where a horrifying spectacle took place. Many moons, maybe all that this planet had got, were flying closer together now; at high speed they gathered at only one side of the gas giant; some of them already collided into another, others only passed their sisters by and changed the flight route of the other one; after that other collisions followed. It was… there was a space ship in the sky, far enough away to be out of trouble, but close enough, that the pilot could surely watch everything. And it was very likely, that one or several persons on board of this spacecraft were the reason why the moons flew that fast. Like small targets or bullets they were shot through the space, one came to close to the gas planet and was ripped apart by the giant gravity…

»Goten, hurry, and let me in there! Give me the rope.« Gohan said. »We must get the Dragon Ball and then we´ve got to go immediately. I am afraid that someone uses this moons as a giant crash-ball game.« He crawled in the opening in the ground and hoped that the sharp rocks would not rip a hole in his space suit; about fifteen feet below ground he could reach the Dragon Ball with his outstretched hand – and the thing fooled him again. In this moment it was definitely clear that these Dark Heart Dragon Balls had something evil in them.

The crystal ball that fit easily in his hand was almost impossible to lift, as if it was attached to the ground with super glue. He had to use all his strength to get it one inch higher, two inches, three inches… and then it suddenly was light as a feather. Gohan had never expected that and prepared himself for another pushback where he needed his full strength, but now all this power was not needed; he pushed himself much faster and with much more force back, than expected, and one of the sharp rocks slit his space-suit at the backside. He immediately felt the air pressure sinking, but he could not help it… he still stuck in this tight hole, and now the three-sphere Dragon Ball was heavy again, as if it wanted to hold him back long enough that the man would die because of the decompression.

But Goten helped his brother; he started to pull at the strong iron rope that was fixed around Gohan´s belt, and the Dragon Ball could not withstand their combined power.

When Gohan was out of the hole, Goten fixed the rip in the space-suit with an emergency tape, and cried: »I hope that this will do it for a while! We have to run! Look at that, big brother!«

Their own moon was drifting closer to a really big one; and other small parts of material were surrounding them like a swarm of hornets. Now and then some of these floating rocks hit the surface of the small moon, and made it shudder, but they would surely not survive the impact on the other, bigger moon.

They arrived at the space ship just in time, the gravitation of the other moon had already caught the small rocky one, and it accelerated very fast. Still this other ship was out there, watching the mess that was going on.

While Gohan concentrated on flying, Goten tried to make some kind of contact to the other ship, to beg the crew to stop that "killing" of the moons. He got an answer, it was a video signal, and it showed a boy who could be only ten, eleven years. He sat on the Captains chair and looked at the main screen that now seemed to show the video-contact signal, and Goten instead of the galactic destruction outside.

»Hello you!« Goten said. »Can I talk to the Captain? It your presence that is responsible for that chaos among the moons of this planet?«

The boy did not answer; he only flickered with two fingers of his right hand, and pushed a button at the armrest of his chair with the left hand. The communication was stopped, and Goten was bewildered, but Gohan cried: »Wow, there comes a big one!«

Like a gigantic cannon ball, a reddish moon shot towards them, and it was damned clear, that it had been aimed at them. Gohan tried to get out of the way of that moon, but the brothers great shock, the moon seemed to pursue them, like if it was steered. It did absolute queer and irrational movements, once it almost flew a sharp edge. The gravitation of that thing was strong and to flee constantly from it stressed the machines…

Gohan had an idea. He turned their space-ship and flew directly to the giant gas planet, the moon followed. When they were close enough to the shimmering surface, Gohan altered the course abruptly and finally the moon lost them, the gravitation of the bigger planet took it and sucked it down.

But they were not saved yet; from now to the next moment the temperature of the gas planet started to increase a lot… it began to glow and to rotate very fast. All of its moons were sucked up by the gravity, and it was clear that it was going to explode.

Gohan tried his best to get them out of the danger zone, but the engines were already at their maximum. Goten went to the machine room and let all energy reserves to the engines and used some additional oxygen from the life-support-system to make the fire of the engines burn a little bit hotter. And it was enough… only the first and fastest shockwave of the explosion could reach them, but the debris of the moons were way behind.

»Who the heck was this boy?« Gohan asked when they had finally stopped the motors, to let them cool down. »Can you play the record of your conversation?«

When they had the picture of the young boy on the side screen again, they looked at it silently. None of them had ever seen Vegeta, when he had been a young boy, but at least they had almost the same black hair, but there was something of Goku too, and some part they did not know, especially the pale white skin and this very cold expression in his eyes.

»How could this be…« Gohan stuttered. »If this is… the heir, where did he come from? Why is he so… _old_ already? Did he probably come back in time too? And what happened to Pan? Is she the mother of that thing? Or what…« he was desperate.

Goten gulped, took a deep breath and said: »Maybe Kori has a bad sibling… Gohan, I know that you do not want to hear this, but maybe it… Probably _he_ has been the real reason why Kori is here… Maybe she´s also some kind of experiment, but… gone wrong, or something. She was probably still too much "Saiyan" to be the heir of this Tsufurian.«

Gohan growled: »You were right. I did not want to hear this. We… must tell it to the others. They need to know that the heir is ready. And then we must try as hard as we can to find the other Dragon Balls, so that we can go home, and help them if they need us.«

:-:

Pan was in the garden of Tomam´s and Adan´s house, picking vegetables, that looked like carrots. Next to her Adan was busy with some potato-like things, for the dinner. Tomam and Furyon worked in the shack to construct some kind of vehicle. When it was ready, it should have a motor that worked with water and garbage; and it would be the first trekker-like thing that the Thaioshtians would have. Everyone in the village was curious about that, and Furyon had a lot to explain… it seemed as if he was totally acknowledged as a scientist and inventor, and no one ever asked where he came from. With a little bit of help from younger village men the Tsufurian had brought some things here from the soldier-fort of the "Tribe", and this day, this minute to be exact, Adan and Pan could hear the first ignition of the motor. It´s noise was loud and throbbing, but it worked.

Pan smiled… without any difficulty Furyon had found a new job that he could do; he was in his element and could use all his knowledge… the Thaioshtian people would be thankful for everything that he invented for them.

All for a sudden she startled and put a hand on her belly. Adan immediately looked at her. »It´s nothing.« Pan answered. »I only think that I felt a small movement of my baby…«

»Oh really!« Adan clapped her hands. »We got to celebrate this. I´ll bake a little first movement-cake for dessert… do you like the taste of Berberi-berries?«

Pan smiled: »Yes, I like those berries, but…« Sadness swept through her like a mighty wave. »I do so much wish that my family was here…«

Adan put her basket down and hugged her: »I know, Pan… but I have an idea! Maybe Furyon can make a sending station for you; so that you can send them a message.«

»I… never thought of this possibility.« Pan said, but then she jumped to her feet and started to the shack, were the mutant was working.

:-:

It was already past midnight at planet Saual, and the three of them trudged through a swamp. The gravitation was thus strong, that they could not fly constantly and there had been only a single place in a hundred square miles, where they had been able to land the ship, a dry rock plateau that towered over that immense swamp. They´d lost sight of the rock long ago, and from time to time the ground under them was so weak that they sunk even deeper than to their waists. Three giant moons were a good light source, but it was not enough to enlighten the dark, mellow ground. In addition to that, the planet must have some geo-thermal warmth, because the mud of the swamp was warmer than the air. No one of them had cold feet, but nevertheless it was disgusting to walk through that squishy mass. Somehow it felt like wading through a luke-warm manure heap.

»Giru, are really you sure that the Dragon Ball is here somewhere?« Trunks asked the little robot, that was sitting on his shoulder. Even for the small machine it was difficult to fly here, so Trunks carried him.

»Yes, Dragon Ball is approximately two miles this direction.« Giru answered. The radar in the back of the small robot blinked, and showed the course.

Fortunately Bulma had been fast and got the ageing robot restored within a day, so that he was able to start off to meet them almost immediately. They had met Giru at a rendezvous-point three days ago; and the small robot had told them, that he had picked up a signal, while he was still flying. So they had followed that track first and landed here.

They marched on and again the swamp got deeper, but more liquid, so that it was possible to swim through. Finally they were in an area, where the mud was about waist-deep and had the consistence of half frozen ice-cream.

»Dragon Ball close by; within a radius of fifty feet.« Giru announced suddenly. »Strange… Danger… Dragon Ball moving! Dragon Ball is slowly moving!«

Vegeta said: »Maybe that swamp has some kind of slow current, or there is a river close by. Let´s try to find the Dragon Ball ere it´s gone again.«

Goku started to dig though the mud with both hands, like a "gone-crazy" dog. He started with a small circle around Trunks and with his next round he took a one step wider circle, and then a third one. The mud began to glide back to where it was before.

»Do you think that you will find it that way?« Vegeta asked. »The mud already starts to float back, and I am sure that the Dragon Ball can easily slip through your fingers.«

»Then help me, search in the mud, that I miss.« Goku answered. »That´s good training for the arms and the upper body; I also went digging when I was still Master Roshi´s trainee. And by the way, I have already finished three full circles around Trunks and you haven´t even started yet.«

Vegeta growled: »Do you want to say that I am lazy? Then watch that!« he also began to dig at high speed.

»Um, excuse me?« Trunks said. »Giru says that he can locate it much better, I only have to walk a few steps... Hello?« no one listened to him; they had started a strange battle against one another. Goku dug clockwise, Vegeta anti-clockwise, and they did not notice that Trunks had meanwhile left the center of the circles and that some part of their digging was completely useless.

Vegeta yelled: »You see, Kakarott, I have already caught up with you, and that in a shorter time than you needed for three rounds.«

»Yes, but I have already loosened the mud you were moving, so it was much easier!«

»We´ll see in the end, who the better digger is…«

Trunks sighed and marched on, the mud got slightly deeper, but he was approaching the Dragon Ball. »Thirty Feet, twenty-seven feet…« Giru counted. »Twenty-two… Dragon Ball moving towards us. Seventeen…«

»It is moving in our direction? How strange… the computer says that the general undercurrent draws the mud into another direction… Are you sure? This would mean that…« Trunks turned to his friends and tried it again: »Goku, father, wait… I am much closer now; you can…« it was no use. »They just don´t listen to me.« He sighed and wanted to walk on, but in the next second he whirled round; but it happened too fast and it was too dark. All he could see was a big bump under the mud, that was gathering speed rapidly, and then it attacked his father, who was in the moment closest to that thing. »Dad!« he yelled.

Vegeta was completely surprised, the predator had no detectable life-energy or Aura, but maybe the mud had shielded it somehow. All he could feel in the first second was a piercing pain in his left leg; some kind of life form had sunk it´s teeth into his trousers, bit through the protective material and met his skin. With a mighty force his leg was pulled away under him, and he slipped; when he was down, that thing immediately started to drag him to its lair. He could hardly believe it… this thing was strong enough to drag him! _Just you wait! You´ll pay for that! No one is allowed to make the Prince of the Saiyans a prey_…

Giru wailed: »Alarm! Alarm! Danger! Alarm!« And Trunks and Goku started flying, although it was very difficult due to the giant gravity.

Vegeta managed it to get back to the surface only an instant later, but his leg was still clenched between the jaws of that predator. He tried to kick at the head of the thing with his right leg, but that was not useful; on the contrary, it had the side effect that it sunk it´s teeth deeper in his flesh. He made a growling sound of protest; somehow he sounded like a wolf who was preparing to attack. With a mighty blow of light he fired at his enemy, and the shockwave dug itself deep into the mud, revealing the slimy back of a creature that was moving like a giant earthworm.

Trunks and Goku were already airborne, and the two of them tried to shoot Ki-Blasts at this predator; also Vegeta shot one or two, but then the fire-hot pain that already burnt in his under leg, slowly crept forward to his chest; he coughed, fired another energy shock, but the thing seemed to be very resistant. And with a soft "Blob" sound he was back under the mud again. There must be a deeper ground here, because the surface was not moving any more, although the animal and Vegeta were somewhere below it, and they were surely fighting. Maybe this was the living place of that predator.

Giru cried: »Danger! Danger! Dragon Ball moving! Moving with Vegeta!«

Goku had an idea: »Maybe that predator has swallowed the Dragon Ball! If I fire at its position, I may hit it!« He charged. »Kame… Hame…« but another beam of light was faster.

»Here we go!« Trunks yelled and the massive energy blast hit the surface of the mud. As if the mud was some kind of shield, it absorbed much of the energy, but it was enough to reach the animal and luckily the blast lamed the gigantic "thing in the mud" a little bit. Goku aimed his Kame-Hame-Ha at the place where he could sense the vicious energy of the Dragon Ball. Vegeta, who was covered in mud all over, also fired some kind of energy attack on that beast. They never exactly knew, how that thing really looked like, but it shattered into pieces. The head ripped from the rest of the body, so that Vegeta was free; he jumped out of the luke-warm mud and hovered in the air too.

With a rain of mud, dead material, flesh, blood and water, a greenish globe fell back to earth and Goku tried to catch it, ere it could fall into the mud again; but it went right through his hand as if he was nothing. The swamp was soft and rather deep here, and they would maybe lose the Dragon Ball if…

»No!« he cried and the greenish globe hit the mud, but Giru picked it up before it could sink down. »The five-sphere Dragon Ball.« he said.

Goku and Trunks flew to Vegeta who tried to get the head of the creature off his leg, but the jaw muscles of the thing had tightened when it died and were clenched like a vice. There was no firm ground, where they would have had the chance to get a better look at the head of the beast; and everything was covered in mud.

»Somehow we must get back to the ship, as soon as possible.« Goku said. »But wait, I have an idea. I´ll go there with Instant Transmission. When I went with Shenron, he told me how to use this technique perfectly, even if I do not have an Aura that I know at my destination point. I only need to know the place I want to go. And off we go… to the ship. There it is… I can see it clearly.«

Trunks said: »But when you tried it on Imecka it was not really working.«

»I was in my younger body then.« Goku reminded him. »It will work now, for sure.«

Trunks and Vegeta stretched out their hands, and within the blink of a second they were back in the ship. They sat down at the floor of the entrance area.

»Hand me one of our sharp knives, please.« Vegeta said to Trunks. »I´ve got to get rid of this head. The tightened muscles still press out the saliva, and this substance burns like hell…« He cut through the stone hard muscles at the side of the head; then it was easier to break up the jawbone-joint. »Take care not to touch the teeth; that's an unpleasant feeling.« he said, when he let go of the animal´s eyeless head.

Trunks cut off his father´s trouser-leg at the knee, to have a better look at the mess. It was obvious that the bite marks were really deep; they were bleeding like mad and everywhere there was mud and dirt; and it did not get much better although he spilled a lot of disinfectant on the wounds.

»That does not look too good.« Goku said. »We should take him to a hospital. No one of us is a doctor.«

Vegeta proposed: »Can you zap us to Pital? You know this planet… I think that they could help me fast.« His voice was still calm, it seemed as if he did not mind the pain.

»Yes, I can do that. Let´s go. He touched the ship, and the others held on to him once more, and one blink later they were at the big parking place besides the hospital. The doctors were surprised, but they knew the mud-worms of Saual and how to treat the bites of them.

While Vegeta was under treatment, Trunks and Goku sat down in the canteen of the hospital and had something to eat. They were not really worried, because the doctors were really good here and they could surely help.

Trunks asked: »Would it be possible for you to get the next Dragon Ball with your Instant Transmission? We have one of them here now, and you could try to get used to the emissions of the Dark Heart Dragon Balls… so you´d know the place where you need to go.«

Goku replied: »I could try, but I am afraid, that it won´t be so easy. I could not touch the five-sphere-Dragon Ball; it fell through my hand as if I was a ghost. Of course I can try to zap me to the place where Giru detects the next Dragon Ball, but I am afraid that this would not help us much, when I can´t bring it back with me. It is possible that the Dragon of the Dark Chaos knew, that I can manage Instant Transmission. He probably arranged it so that I cannot touch the Dragon Balls, so that we cannot save time.«

Trunks nodded: »Probably, but at least we can try it. Maybe we´ll be at least a little bit faster. When you are already next to the Dragon Ball, we could land much closer without risking that it is blown apart by the engine´s fire…«

»Giru!« Goku said in this moment, and smiled. »I could carry Giru, and Giru can take the Dragon Ball! That could be it… that´s maybe something that the dragon did not calculate on! He never knew Giru…«

Trunks smiled: »Yes of course…Giru could touch the Dragon Ball back at planet Saual, and you are able to touch Giru. That's a great idea.«

They stopped their talk, because two doctors entered the canteen. They were talking about a severe theme, and had stern and grim faces.

»Have you seen the bodies of the fugitives?« the older one said to the younger.

»Yes.« he answered. »I was there when we had the emergency landing. It was horrifying, and… although we have the best doctors of the universe, we could not save all of them. And the strangest fact of all is that we could get no contact to the planet Baruu, to inform their families. It is as if the planet has disappeared.«

The older doctor said: »One of the crewmen said that they were one of only two or three ships that managed to escape. They tried to pick up as much civilians as possible, but they had to leave… And he said that it was only one stranger who destroyed the whole army of planet Baruu, and that he played with the Baruuans like a child plays with toys…«

Goku stood up and asked: »I am sorry, I did not want to be curious, but I happened to hear your words. You say that a planet has been destroyed? That is awful.«

The older doctor nodded: »We cannot get any contact to the planet Baruu, therefore we started a spacecraft to find out what happened. But why does that touch you? You are Humans, and not inhabitants of Baruu. Your friend is pretty well, by the way, he´s already trying to get back to his feet, although we tried to forbade it…«

Trunks said: »Yes, we are from earth, you are right … He has asked, because we have seen enough worlds die in our lives, and… it was never nice.«

The younger doctor answered: »Your companion said, he is a Saiyan Prince… I know the stories of the Saiyans; you also destroyed worlds, because they were enslaved by Frieza. But that was long ago, and we are here to help, not to judge. If you want you can talk to a witness, but do not excite him too much. I´ll guide you to the captain of the space-craft.«

A few minutes later they were in front of the room, where the captain of the refugee´s ship was. On the way through the hospital, they met Vegeta, who really was at his feet again. He had to use crutches, what he disliked, but the nurse yelled at him at loud voice that this must be; therefore he sighed and followed Goku and Trunks with the crutches. They informed him what happened, and where they were going to.

Then they were at the room of the captain. The man – a life form which had blue skin, and looked like a giant ant – was quietly reading. But in the same second when the doctor opened the door, and let Trunks, Goku and Vegeta in, the captain started to yell as if someone tried to wrap him in barb wire, and stared at one of the visitors in shock.

»What´s up?« the shocked doctor exclaimed.

Trunks, Vegeta and Goku looked at each other in complete surprise. They had never expected such a reaction.

»Have we ever met before?« Goku asked the ant-like captain.

The man shook his head: »We never met.« he said with a slightly hissing voice. »I am sorry if I scared you. But he…« he pointed at Vegeta. »He has the same Aura as this monster that attacked our planet. But the other way round.«

The Prince of the Saiyans was bewildered: »What does that mean? What do you mean by saying that my Aura is the other way round than that of your… monster?«

The ant-like creature stuttered: »I am not speaking your words well, but… it is like in and out, take and give. He was on our planet and started to play with my fellow people, as if they were lifeless child´s play figures. And he takes. His Aura draws life energy of people, without his doing; sucks it away. It is very strong, very, very black and evil, like staring into a black hole. Seeing you, you have the same strength in your Aura, but outwards, like a shield, like silver light, you do not take, you… in a hard sort of way, you give, or stop others to get too close to you. But you are positive…« He turned to Goku: »You also are positive, but your light is golden – a so strong golden light as I have never sensed it before. And you, younger man, are similar to your father, but… not so harsh. He… the monster, is only a child of your race and someone else, but… stronger. You have no chance.«


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: A difficult decision **

When Pan woke up it was bright sunshine outside, it must be midday or early afternoon already. She sat up fast and left her room. How careless! She should have had a look after the mutant in the morning… she still did not entirely trust him and maybe it was too late now. And it would be her fault because she was too good hearted…

Adan was in the kitchen and came closer when Pan looked into the little spare room, where they had put Furyon´s bed. Of course the room was empty, because it was not really bedtime; but nevertheless Pan was nervous: »Where is he?« She asked the old woman.

Adan replied: »Furyon? He is gone.«

Pan gasped: »What? He ran away?«

»No.« Adan shook her head. »Definitely not. He said he´ll go to get some material to make an interstellar communicator for you, in addition to that he wants to try to repair at least one of the space ships of the "Tribe"-people. He did not exactly tell me why he wanted to do that, but it must have been important.«

»I go and ask him.« Pan said. »I need to know.«

Adan nodded: »Of course. But have something to eat before you go; you must not fly without new energy. There´ll be plenty of time, I think.«

The old woman was right, after a good lunch Pan felt much better, and she started off from the village. This time she could use her full energy level and she was much faster. When she arrived at the king´s palace, she was surprised; the Thaioshtians and the "Tribe" had already started to remove the destructed material. They were working together – no one of them was really used to it, but at least they tried it.

She landed next to the big antenna at the roof and looked at it. It would be so wonderful if she could talk to her family somehow…

Furyon asked from behind: »What do you do here? Some workers saw you landing, therefore I came up here…«

»I was scared because you were gone. Surely you know why.« Pan answered honestly. She startled and pointed at Furyon´s left arm. The skin there was blue instead of green and the hand had only five fingers: »You are strong enough again, that your own body cells can rebuilt your missing underarm and hand?«

»Yes, but it costs a lot of energy. I reduce the arm whenever I do not need it. But it is almost impossible to work here without having two hands – the Thaioshtians cannot really help me, and the "Tribe" soldiers can only explain what they know about the technical equipment. And this is not much. I have to look through everything on my own.«

»Adan told me that you want to construct an interstellar radio station?«

The Tsufurian nodded: »Yes, at least I´ll try. The technical equipment is not very good. The radio station here has this very big antenna, but in fact it is very weak. They only get some signals that are close to the morsel-alphabet through their transmissions, they are far away from sending words or pictures.«

Pan was surprised: »But they have space-crafts, somehow they must be on a higher technological level. I can´t believe that they only use some old morsel-code to communicate.«

Furyon sighed: »I had not much time yet to look at the space-craft which is hidden on this continent. I only walked a short round in it. But this ship looks more than a wreck than anything else. Since fifty years no one had cared for it and – to be honest, it was a wonder how the "Tribe" people ever managed it to get to Thaioshti without blowing themselves up in their rotten ships.« He pointed to the antenna. »I thought of starting here, because this mess is a lot smaller than the big ships, and if I find everything I need here, I do not have to do all the work in the space-crafts. My own ship, with which I landed here, unfortunately is a real wreck. It must have burnt out completely… or the "Tribe" people destroyed it because it was strange to them. I cannot use anything out of it.«

Pan requested: »Why do you do this? Why do you want to construct an interstellar radio for me?«

»The radio is just the first thing I want to construct. And to be honest, it is not for you, but of course you can use it. We need to be informed what´s going on out there, not only on earth, but everywhere.« Furyon replied. »In the end, want to know if it is possible to get those space-crafts flying. Maybe we will need them.«

Pan was puzzled: »What do you mean by saying: "_Maybe we will need them_"?« Deep inside, she had a very bad feeling.

»My heir is still out there, and he cannot be stopped. One can only avoid to get in contact with him… when he comes here, we have to go. Our only chance is to escape… I know nothing that could work against him. He´s resistant to every attack, and he knows exactly what he is able to do and what not.«

Pan shivered: »So it is not possible to trick him out somehow, or to convince him to stop his nonsensical destroying…«

»He will stop when he is bored by it, no moment earlier, and as soon as he wants to try something new, he will do it. The only weakness that I can see is… that he is a mix of Saiyans and Tsufurians, and both of those species are not able to survive in outer space. If we would have any possibility to destroy his space-ship as long as he is travelling… But he knows that this is his weakness and he would never let this happen. We must be prepared to flee to another planet if he comes. He is too strong. No one can resist him.«

The young woman nodded weakly: »I understand…« tears came to her eyes. »But what happens to all of the people here… what happens to all the lives that this creature destroys, only because he wants to play?« She sobbed. »What if he already has destroyed the earth or attacked my family members who search for me… I will always blame you for this. You constructed that creature!« she shed bitter tears. »We are the last of the Saiyans and you are the last of the Tsufurians… how could you ever concentrate your whole power on destroying lives, instead of trying to _have_ a life?«

»Dr. Myuu told me, that this was my destiny.« he replied.

»This is not true!« Pan cried. »_You_ have the right to decide what you want to do.«

Furyon tried to calm her down: »I´ve realized that now, Pan.« He sighed. »I will try to be fast with my work. You should wait at Adan´s and Tomam´s place. This is better for you, and your baby.«

»Why do you care for my baby?« Pan was surprised.

He smiled grimly: »Because maybe I will need it someday. If I cannot count on _my_ people, the Tsufurians, maybe I can find hope in _your_ people. The humans and the Saiyans.«

Pan did not like this answer: »You can be happy, that I did not fully understand what you were trying to tell me. But I warn you, keep your hands off my child… I won´t guarantee for anything if you try to do something to my baby.«

Furyon said: »I will never do anything that puts your child in danger.«

As ever, when he said something that did not fit his usual behavior, Pan was very skeptical: »This does not calm me down! Why do you say such things?«

»I know that these words do not calm you down. But it is a promise.«

Pan asked: »And why do you think that I want such a promise?«

The mutant answered: »If no one will come to pick you up. If no one is left.«

:-:

»Ha!« Gohan shouted and waved his hand. »I got it!«

This time it had been really easy. The two brothers had never expected it to be so trouble-free to get this Dragon Ball. It was the one-sphere one; maybe it was the one that had the least vicious powers, because it had only the center sphere.

They were at a strange planet with yellowish sky, orange clouds and a twin-planet, who could be seen at the sky like a giant moon sickle, even now when it was day. The grass had a strong green color and the rocks, that some stood in this area like pillars, were red.

Goten landed the ship next to his brother. This time they had decided to take the ship with them as close as possible to the Dragon Ball, to save time. Goten opened the door, to let his brother in, but then something strange happened, as if it was bad destiny.

Both brothers felt a mass of live-energies vanish in the distance, far away, but close enough to be shocked by the incredible loss of lives. And then a column of light rose in the sky, it was gigantic, and slowly it seemed to form the giant mushroom-like cloud of fire and smoke, that issued from an atomic bomb.

The light was blinding… Goten cried: »Gohan! Come to the ship, it is ray-shielded! Hurry! The computer says that the radiation expands rapidly!«

Gohan started to fly, but the little Dark Heart Dragon Ball wriggled out of his hand, as if it had gained an own life. Like a happy frog it jumped through the grass, up and forward, steady into the direction of the massive explosion.

»This can´t be true!« Goten yelled. »No Dragon Ball was ever able to move itself!«

Gohan said: »It searches for the greatest amount of destructive energy that is available. And this is over there. We must catch it ere it is at ground zero!«

Goten warned: »But we cannot risk it to follow the Dragon Ball like this. We must wear our ABC-protective space-suits and the helmets. The radiation expands over the whole atmosphere… it is approaching very fast.«

»But it will escape, while we get the suits on.« Gohan cried at his loudest voice, while he tried to catch the jumping crystal ball. »We´ll lose it and the sky-high radioactive radiation will block the signal of the Dragon-radar.«

Goten cursed and yelled back: »Try to hinder it from escaping as long as you can, I´ll dress up and then I´ll replace you. You must wear this suit, or you´ll never see your family again. You are a scientist, you should know how deadly that kind of radiation is!«

»Yes. I know.« Gohan resigned, and tried to get in the way of the jumping Dragon Ball as often as he could, to force it to search for another escape route. Once he almost caught it, but it issued an electric shock that lamed his hand for a second, so it escaped once again.

The light at the horizon turned from the bright shine to a ghastly, flame-bursting inferno, the immense mushroom-like cloud spread out over a big part of the sky, and high up into the stratosphere. This must have been one of the mightiest atomic bombs this planet ever had, and… the citizens had been so foolish to use it. The radiation surely would spread over thousands, if not millions of square miles. What could have been the cause that some army really used this kind of weapon?

Goten was ready with his space suit, and flew closer to his brother, when another mighty explosion erupted into the sky. They both could hardly believe it. They really had launched and detonated another of these devastating atomic bombs. The pillar of light rose much closer into the sky and this time they could also hear the murderous sound of the explosion. The shockwave blew every cloud away and made the earth shiver – and the light almost blinded the two brothers.

Goten hurried forward to grab his brother, and without looking for the Dragon Ball, he dragged Gohan back to the ship. The small green globe was gone; it had gathered even more speed and flew into the direction of the detonation…

The two brothers were so fast that they crashed at the floor of the space-craft, and Gohan, who wore no heavy space suit, was up at his feet at first. He smashed the door in the lock and started upstairs to the cockpit. Whilst he started the engines, Goten could only watch in horror, what happened next. Through the small window in the door he saw a swarm of big, birdlike creatures who had managed to escape the detonation – but not the rapidly expanding, immense radiation. They dropped dead from the sky, one after another and fell out of sight.

Then Gohan launched and they tried to get as far away as possible, at the other, the night-side of the planet. But there it was even worse; it was as if the whole surface was burning; some parts had already turned to ash. Volcanoes were active and all the river beds had turned to flows of lava. Many billions of lives had been extinct here.

»What the heck happened?« Goten wanted to know. »When we first made contact with the people here, no one told us about a war or some natural catastrophe!«

Gohan said: »But remember, when we asked them for the final landing permission a few hours ago, they did not answer anymore. Wait…« He looked at something on the screen. »I can´t believe it. It is… the other space-craft.«

Goten shook his head: »This can´t be. We are far away from the point where we met it the last time…« but he stopped his words. »Could it be, that he followed us somehow? To find out who we are? Then this is my fault, because I´ve made contact with him…«

»Never mind, little brother, but… no. I cannot believe it! Look at this data! The other ship transmitted us some coordinates… like as if they are a meeting point.« Gohan re-checked the data in the computer. »Yes, the coordinates are here, on this planet… at a plateau that is surrounded by mighty mountains. The radiation-wave is not there yet. We could risk it.«

Goten was surprised: »You want to _meet_ him? Really?«

»He invited us. And I am curious what he wants from us. So let us go before the radioactivity also spreads over that plateau.« He shook his head. »This poor planet…«

They flew back to the day-side of the planet, and from high above they could see one of the ground-zero-sites in the far distance. Everything was black and flat there, even hills seemed to have melted away. They could detect already slightly higher radiation in the air, although the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. But the murderous fall-out would spread to here sooner or later; there was no way to stop it.

Gohan landed the space-ship at one side of the plateau, then he and his brother went outside. For safety they had their space-suits on, but the radiation was as low as if nothing had happened – small insects started to sing next to them in the grass and Gohan nearly stepped on a bird´s nest. It was an awful thought that they all had to die because of the radiation… The man bowed down and lifted the small nest that had five small, lilac eggs in it.

»I´ll be back in a second.« he said and returned to the space-craft with the nest. While he put it on a safe and warm place, Goten was outside alone.

Suddenly someone came closer. The small person was flying fast, and there was no doubt that it was their – enemy? Could one really say that this boy was the enemy? He never said any word to them before, but… he destroyed the moons and the gas planet; and maybe he was guilty here too, maybe the army of this planet had tried to fight him and destroyed everything while they tried it.

The boy wore no space suit, but he seemed to be sure that he was fast enough to be back in his ship before the radioactive cloud would arrive. He surely knew about the dangers of radioactivity; therefore he had chosen one of the most protected places on this planet.

»Hello there?« Goten started to speak and to show his good will, he took off his helmet and smiled. »What is your name?«

The boy did not reply the smile or any words, but wrinkled his brow a little bit. He looked much like Vegeta, but there was also a part of Goku in him, and his pale skin made his hair look even blacker. His body looked well trained for such a young boy, and he wore rather dark, skin tight clothes.

Still without any word the boy stretched out his right arm and showed Goten the One-Sphere-Dragon Ball. The crystal orb was still shaking violently, and tried to free itself, but the boy held it with a firm grip. He went one step closer to Goten and stretched the Dragon Ball in his direction…

»Have you caught it?« Goten asked. »Do you really want to give it to me?«

The boy did not react, his facial expression was still like stone, but he did not draw back the Dragon Ball, when Goten reached out for it. This was so strange! How could anyone explain this situation? Maybe the boy had somehow found out, that they were searching for the Dragon Balls, and he had probably landed here, because he also could detect the signals of them? Perhaps he had some interest in them, and he knew that the two brothers also searched for them, and he used this chance to meet them again?

Goten touched the Dragon Ball, and the boy had not yet let go of it… and all for a sudden it Goten felt all his strength leave his body, it was as if his life energy was sucked up by… the Dragon Ball? Or was it because of the boy´s presence? He would never know for sure, if this feeling would continue much longer. He felt outworn within a few instants, and was almost unable to move his hand to let go of the Dragon Ball.

The boy looked at him curiously, but without any intention to help, or to attack him. It was as if he was watching some kind of experiment, but when he noticed that Goten´s knees gave way and he fell down, he draw back the Dragon Ball.

»Goten!« Gohan yelled, when he saw his younger brother lying on the ground. »What did you do to him?« he wanted to know from the boy and approached very fast.

The nameless boy did not back off, but he made one step aside, so that Gohan could land next to his brother. He checked the life-signs and was shocked: »Please, Goten! Please don´t die! What should I tell Valese, Merve and little Goku? Goten! No!«

He shook his brother at the shoulders, but there was no reaction, Goten still lay there unconscious with closed eyes and pale skin. »What did you do to him?« Gohan asked the boy.

As expected, the black haired boy did not reply, but did something else.

Gohan could sense life energies and Aura-signs pretty well and he noticed that the boy had shielded his Aura until now, but at this moment he let it shine, and it was like a black hole. It sucked up every life-energy that was around; there was no possibility of resistance. Gohan also felt getting weaker, but then the boy shielded his Aura again, and the energy-loss stopped. It was obvious that this nameless boy was very strong, even if he did not fight.

Without giving any explanations, suddenly, the boy gave Gohan the Dragon Ball, and to be sure that this thing could not escape once more, the Half-Saiyan put it into an isolated pocket of his space suit.

»Thank you.« he said, although without any doubt the boy was the cause that his brother was hurt.

Unexpected, the boy gave an answer. His voice was emotionless and calm: »Get stronger; then I will ask for you again. I will find you, because you want to find _them_.« he pointed at the Dragon Ball in Gohans pocket, then he turned around and was gone within an instant; he was so fast as if he could use instant transmission.

Gohan looked after him for a few moments – he was really puzzled, and… frightened. There was so much hidden between the few words that this boy had said! But then he shook his head and picked up his brother, to take him to the ship. The fall-out-cloud was approaching fast, and they must leave here.

»Please! Please wake up!« he pleaded, when he had placed the younger man at the sofa of the living-room. »Damned, Goten, don´t do this to me.« He shook him again.

»Ooh…« Goten groaned. »What do you do? I am not dead, you know?«

Gohan sighed: »Thank God that you are awake…«

»Dende has got nothing to do with it…« Goten tried to make a little joke. »I was not cautious enough, and forgot my guard. What was that? Did he really give us the Dragon Ball? Did he try to be our friend, or what?«

Gohan shook his head: »I don´t think so. He just knew that we were searching for them, and he wanted to meet us again. And here lies the danger. He somehow said, that he wants to challenge us to battle, some day… and that he will find us because of the Dragon Balls. And that will lead him…«

Goten sat upright: »Directly to the others. To Pan, who has a Dragon Ball, to the other space-ship, or… to earth. Videl has a Dragon Ball there. I am sure that he attacked this planet and the army reacted by detonating those atomic bombs. I won´t imagine what happens if he comes to earth. There are many people there too, that tend to overreact.«

Gohan shook his head: »We cannot leave them alone. We must go back… and as soon as we notice that he´s really after the Dragon Balls, because he wants meet us again, we have to take all the Dragon Balls and leave the earth. He probably won´t find out home planet, if they are not there anymore.«

Goten tried to get up to go to the cockpit: »I need to check, when we get the next possibility to talk to our families. We are very far away from home… and…« he stopped dead and pointed out of the cockpit-windshield. »No! Not again!«

To the horror of the brothers, the two planets seemed to approach each other; slow at first, but it surely would not need a long time period to disturb the fragile gravity-balance between the sister-planets. The dying orange one and the still unharmed blue world would collide, and no one could stop it. Both planets were doomed to die.

»I can´t sit here, watching that!« Gohan said, his hands clenched to trembling fists. »We can´t do anything to save the blue planet! That´s awful…«

:-:

Goku shook his head rapidly to wake up. He had been dozing in the co-pilot´s chair, but now he sensed something, that needed his full concentration. »I must leave.« he said abruptly, and the two others looked at him in surprise.

Vegeta asked: »We are very close to get another Dragon Ball – we´ll be at the planet tomorrow; and you want to leave us now? I thought you´d try to get it with Giru.«

»Yes, of course… I know that we wanted to try that; but I think that my sons really need me… they are desperate. They are not on earth, so I could try to help them. I´ll be back as soon as possible.« He zapped himself away with Instant Transmission.

Trunks said to Vegeta: »Let us try to get the Dragon Ball in the meantime.«

:-:

Goku arrived at the other space-craft only a moment later. Both of his sons were very quiet and weighed down by the knowledge that they were not able to help; the planets would surely collide soon.

»I sensed that you might need me here?« Goku said.

Gohan and Goten turned around to him and jumped up at the same time. »Dad!« they yelled in unison. »You are here! Why did you leave Trunks and Vegeta?«

Goku embraced his sons one after another, then he said: »I am here, because I sensed the trouble in your minds and souls; it was as if something very bad had happened. And I see what you mean. If we three work together, we could stop this orange planet from hitting the blue one. We must destroy it entirely as long as it is still far away enough.«

Gohan sighed: »I somehow thought of that too, but I was afraid that Goten and I would be too weak to do it. Then we had the idea to use the rest of the mighty atomic weapons that the army of this orange planet must have… but… we hesitated because there are still life-forms here, and we can´t kill them.«

Goten added: »But we cannot watch both of the planets die either. This is so difficult.«

Goku nodded: »Yes, I know, and I also sense some life-energies that are left on this planet. About ninety-seven percent of it is already destroyed; there must have been much more atomic explosions than you witnessed. The massive radiation is almost everywhere.«

Gohan explained: »We only saw two of them, but maybe there _were_ others at the opposite side of the planet – maybe even before we arrived here. No one was able to answer our request for a landing permission, and no one came to check out our ship.«

Goku closed his eyes: »I sense a few life forms really close by, and then others in the far south. I´ll try to get them here, in the ship, and then we must eliminate this planet… to save it´s blue sister.«

He zapped away and a few moments later he returned with two panicked, furry, but snake-like creatures in his hands, which he dropped at the floor of the living-room-area and was gone again. Goten tried to find a place where he could put the animals, and Gohan went outside to the plateau, he also searched for surviving creatures, but the time was slipping away. Out of a mixture of chemicals, fires and ashes a massive fall-out-cloud had started to form, and the wind was blowing them steadily closer. Only the mountains held the giant cloud front off now; it covered the whole horizon and was of such a sick color, that it was revolting. It was not possible to save everyone. He picked up two other bird´s nests and tried to catch one of the birds that had been breeding, but the animal misjudged his attempt and fled.

Goku returned with a family of slimy, spiderlike fish… or whatever they were.

Goten said: »Yack.« and put them into separate plastic bowls with some water.

Although Goku and Gohan tried until the last minute, they could not get all survivors to their ship. Goku sighed and said, when he noticed that the fall-out had finally reached the plateau too. He already wore his space suit, but he could hear that the insects stopped singing; and he sensed them lose their lives: »Let us launch, and as soon as we are in the orbit of the blue planet, you have to exit the ship with me. I have an idea how to stop the orange planet.«

The minutes seemed to be hours, until they finally reached the orbit of the nice blue planet. It was obvious that the approaching of the other planet already harmed the surface of the blue one; because of the increased gravity the waves were gigantic, at this side of the planet, but there seemed to be only very little land mass; most of the lives must dwell in the sea here. There was hope, that the most of them were still alive and undamaged.

Goku exited the ship first, he also wore a space-suit, Gohan and Goten followed him.

»And now?« Goten asked.

His father explained: »We will use a "Father-and-Sons Spirit Bomb" that we launch with an ultimate Kame-Hame-Ha. Power up to Super-Saiyans now, I will do Super-Saiyan four… Then hold on my shoulders with one hand, the other arm to the sky. Take all the energy that the life forms of the blue planet may borrow you, but also all the negative energy that issued when there was so much destruction. Be careful, I´ll try to wrap the energies one in another, so that I get a multi-layer-energy ball. I might need that… Let´s Start…«

They concentrated on every life-form they could reach, and Gohan, who had learnt a lot from Piccolo and knew how to control bad energy a little bit better than his brother, tried to draw the dark energy towards them. The Spirit Bomb formed above Goku, it was not immense, but rather small, the energy was drawn together.

Finally it was so full of both sides of energy that Goku could hardly held up the barrier between the good and the bad layers inside the Spirit Bomb. »Ultimate Kame-Hame-Ha!« he cried and threw the shining Spirit Bomb forward, his sons also fired their energy shocks with him. The shiny energy ball rushed through the space.

The Spirit Bomb hit the dying orange planet fully at the center, and because of the different layers it somehow exploded in kind of shock waves. Every shock wave ripped some parts of the planet away, either they were pulverized or broke to very small pieces. The last detonation of the planet itself ripped the biggest part of it in two. When the blinding light was gone, there was almost nothing left of the orange planet except two bigger rocks, and billions of small dust and pebbles, that slowly started to form a ring around the blue planet.

Although the three of them had succeeded in saving the blue planet, they felt like crying. Never before one of them had been forced to destroy an entire planet… and they hoped that they´d never have to do this again.

Gohan and Goten told Goku what happened, when they met the boy that looked like a young Vegeta, and then Gohan said: »Therefore we decided to go back to earth. We take the two Dragon Balls that we have back with us – we have three there then. If we must, we leave the earth again with all three Dark Heart Dragon Balls, to lure this creature into another direction. I won´t imagine if something like that happens at home.«

Goku agreed: »This is a good decision. I will tell Trunks and Vegeta, that we´ve got to find the other Dragon Balls alone. Three are left, right?«

Goten nodded: »Yes. Videl has the "two" on earth, we have "one" and "three" here.«

»And we have "five".« Goku said. »When I left Vegeta and Trunks, we were close to get another one; maybe they already got it. Following the rules of the Dragon of the Dark Chaos, one of the remaining unknown two is with Pan.«

Gohan sighed: »This means still a lot of work. If we detect one of the other Dragon Balls at our flight home, we will of course take it with us. But so long, Vegeta, Trunks and you are the only ones on the search. We´ll train at home, we promise… so that we might be able to protect the earth at least a little bit, if he is coming. Maybe he´s satisfied if he can fight with us…« he smiled weakly. »Although I don´t think so. Bring back my daughter, father; I am sure that you´ll be able to do that. We all count on you.«

»I will.« Goku answered, and wanted to zap himself away again, using Instant Transmission, but he failed. He failed again when he tried it as Super Saiyan. He realized with a sigh that he had not the strength left to turn to Super Saiyan four, and clearly not enough strength so manage such a great distance in Instant Transmission. »Darn.« he cursed. »I need to rest for a while… it seems as even dead people can run out of energy.«

»Maybe you just need some food.« Gohan proposed. »Our fridge is back there…«

Goku nodded and started off to look for the food, but also that seemed to be not enough. He still felt tired and outworn; it was clear that he had to sleep for a while to regain his strength. »I am sorry, boys, I will have to stay a little bit longer.«

Gohan laughed: »Gosh, dad, we love it to have you here for a little while. So we can catch up with all the old stories… but if you feel like sleeping, please do – Trunks and Vegeta are also waiting for you.«

Goten, who was in the pilot´s chair for the moment, said: »We´re turning – back to earth. But it is a long way, we´ll need at least three weeks, but probably more, because we cannot force the engines to their maximum limit all the time, and we have to land once to get some new fuel.«

Gohan sighed: »Then let us hope that this time will be enough…«

:-:

Three days had passed since Son Goku had left Trunks and Vegeta, but when he came back on board with Instant Transmission, there was something wrong. Vegeta and Giru were alone, Trunks was nowhere to be seen; and the ship had already left the old course – Giru´s back screen showed the way to a totally different place in the galaxy.

Vegeta said no word, but steered the ship with full concentration, and as Goku looked round, he could see the well-known Five-Sphere Dragon Ball, and besides it another one; that hat seven whirling and spinning, soap-bubble thin spheres inside, that stacked one in another. The Seven-Sphere-Ball really was frenzy, and Goku had the feeling that he would go crazy if he would look too long at it. Nevertheless the new Dragon Ball had some kind of evil fascination and he wanted to touch it – only to try if his hand would slip through this one too; like it did with the Five-Sphere one. He stretched out his fingers.

»Don´t touch it, Kakarott!« Vegeta shouted and Goku jerked back his hand.

»Why?« he asked.

Vegeta explained at low voice: »Trunks did it and… vaporized.«

Goku blinked and could not believe it: »What did you say?«

»Have you got a problem with your ears? I said Trunks only touched it and then he was gone, without any warning. Giru took it here… we… must go… and find the next one.«

»Vegeta…«

»Stop it _right_ _now_! We have no time to talk. We´ve got to fulfill our mission.«


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Mirror/ɹoɹɹıƜ **

When Furyon came back for a visit about two and a half weeks later, he had good news. It had been too exhausting for him to travel back from the king´s palace to Tomam and Adan´s house every evening, but now and then he had visited them for half a day or so, to work on the machine they were constructing in Tomam´s shack. The tractor should be ready for the new planting season, so that they could use it to plough the fields.

This day he had no parts for the machine with him, but he told Pan: »I am almost ready now. The electronic devices are very old. Some of them had not had the strength to withstand the new voltage level that I needed, and just melted; but I have succeeded in sending a morsel-code like message to a neighbor planet.«

»Really!« Pan cried. »Can this be true? Can we talk to them to beg them, that they would send a faster message to earth, or that they would come to pick me up or something?«

Furyon smiled a little bit and took a sip of the tea that Adan had brought them. »I am sorry, but I need more time to manage that. The morsel-signal is very slow, and weak. I was so happy that I was able to _find_ the next planet that has some technology level with those rotten equipments that I have got here. I sent the signal yesterday, but the transmission would need some travelling-time too. I do not expect an answer within the next five or six days.«

»But this is so long!« Pan wailed. »And what if they do not understand your signal?«

»I sent the interstellar greeting signal. If they ever had contact to other planets and species, they must know it. They would send back a simple answer, just like "We´ve heard you." or something. In the meantime I will try to improve my radio station.«

Pan sighed deeply. »You do your best, do you? If I´d know how, I´d help you to be faster, but… slowly but surely I am feeling like a stranded whale or something… I hardly can see my toes, when I am standing.« she giggled. »And that was another kick.«

The mutant asked amused: »Your baby is a fighter?«

»It seems so, yes. But it is ok; I am used to it in the meantime.« she took a deep breath. »I´ve almost forgotten how much time passed, since you took me from earth.«

Furyon looked away, when he answered: »More or less it should be close to seven months now, since I kidnapped you.«

Pan jumped to her feet: »Seven months!« she cried. »Not really!« Her shocked reaction had been too fast for her body and she staggered; but Furyon was up in an instant, supported her for a moment, and helped her to sit down. »Thank you.« she said. »Whoa, my baby did not like that. It´s kicking me really hard now. It seems to notice when I am excited.«

»May I?« the mutant asked.

»May what?« Pan was confused but did not stop him from placing one hand at her tummy. She was surprised how gentle this person could be if he wanted to.

He was very cautious, and said: »I think I recall an old memory. A long time ago… my wife and I also had a child. But they died… in the war against the Saiyans.«

»I am sorry.« Pan whispered with a soft voice.

Furyon replied: »This is not your fault… and not the fault of your family. It needed some time, but slowly I start to understand. I cannot make you responsible for a war that happened so many years ago; before all of you were born.«

Pan took a deep breath and said: »I see that you have learnt a lot since we met. Maybe more than in all the years before.« She stretched out her hand: »Partners?«

He was a little bit surprised: »Really? After all I did?«

Pan smiled: »We both know that the things that happened in the past were not very pleasant. In fact they were awful; but to face the future and the problems we still have, we have to be partners – partners that can trust each other. So let´s give it a try.«

»Well then… so be it.« he answered and took her hand.

:-:

»Uh, hello?« Trunks could not believe it. He blinked a few times, to check if his eyes were fooling him, but really: The space-craft had launched and was already high up in the air. It was as if… he had been forgotten and left behind at some rotten gas-station, whilst the rest of the family was driving happily to Disney-Land. »What...« Because he had other things to think of, he dropped almost all bags that he carried in his hands, and fruits and other food supplies started to roll over the dirty floor of the lonely landing-dock.

He turned to one man of the ground-cleaning personnel, who worked next to him: »Can you explain me what happened?«

»The space-craft launched three minutes ago.« the worker, that looked like an upright walking octopus, answered with an uninterested tone in his voice. He carried on with his work and brushed away a few of the plums that had dropped out of Trunk´s bags.

The Half-Saiyan hurried after him: »But why? I am one of the crew… the pilot!«

»Maybe this was a mutiny.« the worker replied, and he was still not interested in talking with the bewildered man. »Sometimes that happens.«

Trunks yelled: »A _mutiny_? Are you serious? We were _two_ people on board of that ship, just my father and me, and a little robot… how could this be a mutiny!«

The worker was a little irritated now: »What do I have to do with your family business? I´ve got to clean this dock, then I have got to clean dock number nine. This is all what bothers me. Thank you. Good bye, farewell, and don´t touch a mirror-tree.«

»Don´t touch _what_?« Trunks asked. There was no chance to recover from his surprise.

»That´s our parting wish here. One must not touch a mirror-tree. They grow outside and mirror you. So… that's it. Good bye, farewell, and don´t touch a mirror-tree.« Now he left this dock, although a side of it was still dirty. Maybe he was really tired of talking.

Trunks was still bewildered and started to collect his food supplies from the floor. »Mirror-tree.« he murmured. »What kind of plant could that be…« He tried to remember what happened, when they landed on this planet.

The authorities had ordered them to land in one of the space-harbors; if they had tried to touch down outside, they would have been punished by law. Every space-craft had to land in the docks and pay the taxes for touchdown and takeoff – and of course every landing platform had a special fee that the user had to pay. But never mind; they had chosen the city that was closest to the position of the Dragon Ball, and then they had started off to get it, whilst the dock-workers cleaned their ship (extra costs) and refilled it with fuel (extra costs) and offered to repair small damages (extra costs).

Whatever... Vegeta, Giru and Trunks had started their search together, and walked through the city and crossed a big market place on the way. What had happened next? Yes, Giru had said that the Dragon Ball must be in a small wood just outside the town, and they went there, and then? _The wood? Yes, there had been trees, of course. It would not be called wood if there were no trees._ Trunks stopped collecting his food. _The trees? Mirror-trees?_

He remembered that it had been impossible for him to ignore these plants – he had never seen such trees before; therefore he had approached to one of them and started a little research about it. He had looked at the silvery trunk and the branches, and the almost transparent leaves, that had only a soft greenish tanning, like colored glass. Nice trees, but…

_Well, yes, this could be it_; his father had said that he did not want to wait until Trunks was done with his biological research about those plants, but instead he wanted to go and get the Dragon Ball with Giru.

»And I answered him that I´ll go back to the city-market and get us some fresh food supplies, because we´ve only got that frozen packages left…« Trunks repeated half-loud. But this must have been the very moment where something went wrong in their communication; Vegeta did not hear him, or did not listen; and they parted – each one convinced, that the other one had understood.

But that did still not explain why his father left this planet without him. _Strange_. Trunks shook his head and took his food-bags with him. As soon as he had paid an extra fee, he was allowed to leave the bags at the office of the chief of the space-harbor, so he had his hands free again. Rapidly running, he went back to the hut of one of the farmers at the market. He had bought a lot there, because the farmer´s woman was really nice and had helped him a with explaining the tastes of the fruits and vegetables, and suggestions how to cook them.

»Excuse me, I have another question.« he said to her.

»Oh, welcome, young earthling. Feel free to ask everything you want.« The octopus-like woman answered.

Trunks began: »What are Mirror-trees?«

»You met one?« she asked back. »They are a little bit creepy, to be honest, if one does not know them; but... well. We have an old legend on our planet. A person who touches the trunk of a Mirror-tree, will be mirrored, and a full picture of him steps out of the tree. It is nothing more than an after-image, but looks like you, and acts like you; but sometimes strange. Like: You go there and your mirror-figure does the exact opposite - you go north, it goes south. Sometimes it is like a real mirror picture, and it accompanies you like a shadow. Old words say that a Mirror-tree takes a bit of your soul away, when it mirrors you, therefore you should not touch it. But when I was young, we used it as a child´s play. We made mirror-figures of ourselves and kept them as kind of – joke; watched them doing the opposite of us or something completely different. One or two just walked away, others stayed with us as if we were bond together. But all they have in common is, that they disappear to nothing as soon as someone touches them a little bit too strong or as soon as they ran into a wall, or into another tree… like balloons, that meet some sting.«

Trunks shook his head in disbelief: »And this Mirror-tree makes a "second me" or something? Like a… ghost?«

The farmer´s woman laughed: »Go and try it! You seem to be some kind of explorer. I do not think that they take parts of you away if they mirror you. It is just a strange kind of plant.« she smiled. »Once I tried to send my mirror-figure in school for me, because I wanted to skip the classes. But it could not talk and moved really odd, so the teacher soon recognized that it is a mirror-figure and let it disappear. And I got a really big extra-homework.«

This was really interesting. Trunks ran back to the Mirror-tree he had found outside town, but this time he did not write down everything in his computer; he just touched the smooth, silvery bark of the trunk, and stepped back a little bit. Only a few heartbeats later, a figure that looked exactly like him stepped out at the opposite side of the tree.

That was a funny experience… This double-image seemed to be a mirror/mirror object, it did everything Trunks did the other way round, left was right, back was forward, and up was down. It needed a time until Trunks had found a way to get really close to his mirror-body, but when he touched it softly, it was ok, but when he tried to shake it´s hand, it made a soft "tuff" and was gone with fine dust that fell to earth.

»Strange…« the Half-Saiyan murmured and went back to the tree. »Why does it do that? This must have some reason – if plants do something without reason, that only costs their energy, they are on the edge to extinction.« He touched the trunk again and produced a second mirror image, but this time it went straight ahead without turning, until it ran against a bigger rock and vaporized to dust again.

But the dust was the reason… it was the seed of the tree, and to form the bodies of a creature that could move, allowed the tree´s seeds to move away from the tree too… so to spread them a little wider. The riddle about the Mirror-trees was almost solved, but the other one still remained. Why did Vegeta leave without a goodbye?

Suddenly Trunks started to laugh. Maybe his first mirror-figure went with Vegeta! Good gracious, this must be a shock, if that funny thing just would made "tuff" and there was nothing left but dust-like seeds of a tree.

Although the trees were interesting, he could not stay here, he had to follow the other ship; they had to find the Dragon Balls – to get Pan back. And without Giru he had no idea where to fly; so he somehow had to catch up with the other ship, as long as he could detect it´s position signal.

He hurried back to the space-harbor and paid (a lot) of money to get a small, but fast space-craft, to follow his father. Maybe Goku was already back again with his father, and they were both laughing about the Mirror-tree-picture, that made "tuff" and was gone – and… _gosh_, how embarrassed his father would be if he had to admit, that he had taken a mirror-figure for his son and left the planet… and then "tuff" and he had to realize that he had been wrong… _Uuh_… it was maybe better to stay out of sight until Vegeta´s first anger was gone.

Trunks steered his small ship into open space, then he locked the position signal of the other ship as some kind of goal-data for the little ship and leaned back, to look through his report about the Mirror-trees again and to add his last experiments. He never lost a single thought on the fact, that the "tuff" of his mirror-body could have been totally misunderstood.

:-:

It was like travelling in a coffin. Vegeta was dead quiet and Goku understood well, that this was not the time for talking. But nevertheless he said: »I understand you, but please do nothing crazy.«

Vegeta replied, cold as ice: »As soon as we have Pan back, I´ll go and make this dragon pay.«

»That´s exactly what I meant, Vegeta.«

»I know, Kakarott, but you cannot stop me.«

Icy silence filled the ship once more, and for hours.

Then Giru beeped softly: »Sorry to disturb, but Dragon Ball exactly localized.«

Goku turned to him: »You have the planet?«

»Yes.« Giru replied. »Coordinates XZ-Three-four-seven, Y-Five-nine.«

Vegeta looked at the screen: »That is not far away, we could be there within a few hours. Let´s do it, and for what you have told me although I did not want to hear it, this is the sixth one. With the last one we will find Pan. And then this all is over…« he growled. »I will bring the seven orbs back to the Dragon of the Dark Chaos, and…«

»Vegeta, don't. They need you at home.«

»Grr.« the other Saiyan answered.

The tomblike silence returned, and slowly Goku began to like this dead quietness too. This might sound strange, but it was the best to block everything else out – everything else than to find this Dragon Ball. It must be the "four" or the "six", because there were only these two left now. Nothing else mattered.

Suddenly a _beep-beep-beep_ disturbed the spellbound silence, and at first no one realized where this sound came from, but it was the communication system. Someone tried to make contact to them via radio. This was the least thing they needed now. Vegeta pressed the "no answer" button and sped up.

Only a few seconds later the radio beeped again, and this time it was Goku who replied the caller with "no answer." The signal came from another space-craft, not from the planet that they were going to, so it was not useful to them, it was neither a welcome nor a "stay back" signal from their new destination. He did not want to be disturbed by any interstellar tax collectors or other troublemakers.

»This can´t be true! They won´t listen.« Vegeta growled about a minute later, when the other ship called once again. »That´s nerve-racking.« he plugged out the main wire of the radio and added speed – whoever they were, they could take their taxes elsewhere.

:-:

»This can´t be true!« Trunks could not believe it. »They won´t listen! That´s nerve-racking.« He also gathered more speed to keep up with the other ship, but to his dislike the engines of the alien-ship that he was flying were not as good as the engines of the Capsule Corporation, and slowly, but steadily, he fell back behind them.

:-:

When Goku and Vegeta arrived at the planet, where one of the last Dragon Balls must be, they chose their landing position as close as possible to the place, where the signal came from. This planet was another, very special place. All the parts of the vegetation that on earth were green, were black here; this was because the pink-colored sun had not a strong light emission and the plants needed all wavelengths; they reflected nothing. All in all it was a rather dark place, even in daylight – it was warm and damp, but all light had the quality of late dusk or early dawn. It was enough to see pretty well but also enough to feel quite uncomfortable. Rocks and earth were of a grayish-brown color and the small animals, that lived here, also had rather dark colors, but big eyes; and they shrieked back with fear when they were hit by a ray of light out of one of the Saiyan´s flashlights.

Giru had of course also noticed that the men did not want to talk, but he had to say: »Dragon Ball signal one and a half mile southwest…«

Goku and Vegeta started a short flight to get a look around, but they had landed on this planet without asking for permission; so they were cautious not to be noticed by any authority – if there was one. Despite the general darkness, there was something new to see. It looked like an old temple or some cultural-gathering place. In general it was made of rectangular stones that were about three times higher than wide. Single pillars made of one stone and arches made of three stones were positioned there, every time one pillar between an arch, forming a complete circle in the end.

»I think I can feel it there.« Goku said. »But the place itself makes me shudder… I don´t know why, but it could be dangerous – even for me, if we go there.«

Vegeta shook his head: »I do not care. I want to get this Dragon Ball, and then I want to leave. Nothing more. So stop talking.«

Goku nodded: »You are right. Whether it is dangerous or not, we need the Dragon Ball. Let´s go. I think it does not matter if we fly, or not.«

They were there a lot faster, than if they had walked on the ground, and landed just outside the stone-circle. The buildings were about fifty feet high, and the stones looked like as if the builders had used their teeth or fingernails to form them.

»I can see the Dragon Ball.« Vegeta said and pointed to a thin, but high pillar or a bar of iron that was in the middle of the stone circle. This was maybe the strangest place where a Dragon Ball could ever be. They approached slowly, and soon it was clear that the thin structure was made of blackish iron, like a spear, of which the blade was replaced with the Six-Sphere Dark Heart Dragon Ball. This structure was about three times higher than a man.

Goku whispered: »As if he was prepared for some sort of ceremony.«

»Hmm…« Vegeta responded. »This is not important. We need it.« He jumped up and stretched his hand out for the Dragon Ball, but something darted at him from out of nowhere, and both of them crashed at the floor.

»Don´t touch the god!« a deep voice wailed, »How dare you to approach the god of light, you are not welcomed…«

Figures were coming closer; and if the Saiyans would not know that it just _couldn´t be_ so, they´d say that those figures were the absolute opposite of life-forms. But what in the world _could be_ the absolute opposite of a life-form and who the heck would take such a vicious Dragon Ball as their god?

»This is not a god.« Goku tried to explain. »This is just one of the Dark Heart Dragon Balls, and we have already two of them in our ship. We need this one. If we must, we´ll take it by force, but we´d prefer not to fight.«

One of the strangers, who had a female voice, came closer to him and asked: »Fight, you say? We do not wish to fight; we are peace-loving people. But the god of light fell down to us, and it has everlasting light in it, not like the sun, that goes away in the evening.«

Vegeta was a lot less friendly: »We need it, and there is no point to discuss about.«

A second person, also a female one, came to the Prince of the Saiyans. She wore a black robe all over; and no one wondered about that, because most of the animals and plants, from where they could have their textiles, were also black. But when she lifted the thin veil that covered her face, it was clear, that also the skin of the people was black; but blacker than any kind of man on earth could ever be. Although her face and body looked almost humanoid, she surely couldn´t be related to this species. Her eyes were big and… wonderful, seductive, and… irrestisible. Even Vegeta, who had learnt to love Bulma deeply in the long years, that they had spent together, was overwhelmed.

It was not better with Goku. He was already dead and still faithful to the promise he had given to Chichi… but nevertheless, the woman that was next to him was also so tempting that he could hardly withstand, and when she reached out for his hand, he let her take it…

:-:

The creature, Trunks was talking to, looked like a mixture between a fox and a little ape with skilled hands, and a semi-upright walk. It had a black fur, like most of the life forms on this planet, but in this black there were some dark-red tiger-stripes. The big eyes were an accommodation at the low light level, and of a bright, nice green with a black pupil.

»And you say, I should keep my lamp switched off?« Trunks was not sure that he had understood. »Because _they_ are attracted by light, and they eat… what?«

The alien, that was about four foot high when it was standing, answered with a soft, melodic voice: »They eat… but they do not kill, if they catch a living creature. It lives on, but without being itself. They take the part that is not visible in you away, but that is an important part of you. Without it your body still is here but you are not. You think, and eat, and sleep and drink, and talk, but you are gone. They are interested in light, but too much light scares them. Therefore we burn the bodies of our deaths, so that they won´t come closer and catch that part of the person that does not die; but needs to find the way to the other world.«

Trunks shook his head: »I am sorry. I do not understand your words. How can you be here and not be here anymore at the same time?«

The inhabitant of the planet replied: »You are, and you are not. We know two parts that are needed to form a life – a body made of flesh and bones, or some other physical substances. Insects are not of flesh and bone like we have it, and they also live, and plants live too, but they are not made of flesh and bone. But the _other_ part, that one that goes to the other world if one dies… that is what they eat and when they eat it, you are gone, but still here.«

»They eat souls?« Trunks asked. »Do you want to say that?«

»If you call it so, yes. We call it soa, and when the soa of a dead man is eaten by them it cannot go to the other world; it stops to exist, and if a creature must live without soa, it is… like a walking dead. The soa won´t come back.«

»So they could also eat up the souls of dead people, and they… vanish? Forever?«

»Yes. This is what they like to do. This is their food. We do not like them to do that, but sometimes they catch animals or one of us. They are not many, but they are dangerous.«

Trunks smiled: »Thank you for talking to me. This will help me a lot.« He stood upright again and said to himself: »I need to find the others. Those soul-eaters could be dangerous; even for Goku.« he started to fly.

:-:

Bulla and Kori were exhausted. They panted for air and sat at the floor of the training-room in Bulmas house. The twins were also fighting, but they had much more fun, even Kaya, who usually disliked violence. Mr. Satan was there for the training of the small children; and he had really some hand for training the little ones, they were already better than their mother and also better than Kori; although they were only three and a quarter years old. Little Vegeta was almost so far that he could produce small Ki-explosions, but he soon had noticed that grandpa Satan was afraid of that and had stopped it, so that he could train with his sister.

»The children are genius.« Kori sighed. »I wish, I´d started fighting when I was so young. I´d be much better now.«

Bulla also took a deep breath: »Yes… but I´d prefer my children to have a quiet and safe childhood in a safe world; without any threat. What can they do against a creature like… the mutant Baby? You never met him, and you never saw his abilities.«

»No. I also never met the big threat that endangered my world.« Kori replied. »My uncle and I always fled, when he came too close.«

Videl interrupted them: »Stop talking, the break is over. We´re going to do a new condition training round now – One minute at every station, as much repeats as you can get.« But Pans mother did not only supervise them, she also trained, every single workout. She knew very well that she wouldn´t have any chance against energy based attacks or even the physical strength of a creature that was a mix of Saiyan and Tsufurian, but she trained. At least she had something to do that distracted her.

Mr Satan said: »Okay, twins, we will do this condition-training-round with your mom and your cousin. I count your repeats.« _And I use the time to relax a little bit_, he thought.

The kids ran next to her mother and little Vegeta said: »I am sure that I can do the most of all. I will be the best young fighter, better than Merve or Urian.«

Bulla growled: »Sometimes you are totally like your grandfather, boy. You can try, if you like, but don´t get big-headed. I warn you.«

Videl laughed shortly, but then all of them concentrated on their training. When they were in the middle of the sit-up-exercise, the door of the training-room suddenly opened and Chichi stepped in.

»You won´t believe what happened!« she said. »Gohan and Goten are coming home.«

:-:

Vegeta felt strange, it was as if he was chained to that weird and wonderful, black skinned woman with the beautiful eyes, and he could not resist, when she came closer and touched him. _No resistance? No fight? No defiance?_ Some part of his brain still could not believe it; another part only wanted to rest forever in the arms of this beautiful creature… But no! No! Never, there was Bulma and there were his children… no… not _children_. Bulla was left, he loved her dearly; but his son was gone, eaten up by this vicious Dragon Ball, and what use was it to resist this calming embracement, if it would lead only to more… losses? Some day all of them would be gone, why shouldn´t he, Vegeta, the Prince of the Saiyans, stay here and feel calm and free of sorrows… maybe this was the best he could do.

»Vegeta!« Goku yelled. »Fight back, man! Don´t let her touch you! Don´t look in her eyes, they´re up to something very unpleasant! _Gah_!« he startled. »_Uah_, that thing bit me… that thing bit me in the arm and…_Haaah_!« he shrieked again, another creature had approached, crawling on the ground, and bit in his left shinbone. He kicked it away.

Slowly Vegeta turned his head and saw, to his surprise, that Kakarott seemed to be a little bit less solid than before, and the halo over his head was a bit darker. »Are you fading? Or am I dreaming?« he asked with an unrealistic calm voice.

Goku shouted back and tried to get the first creature, that was still violently sucking at his right underarm, away: »I am afraid I do! They´re eating me somehow… «

»They eat a dead man. How nutritious could that be?« Vegeta answered sarcastic.

With a short Ki-Blast Goku got rid of the person at his underarm, and said: »I don´t think that flesh and bones are interesting for them! None of those creatures bit you, and you are a lot more "meaty" than I am! But they keep staring at you as if they are trying to make an x-ray of your insights. Or as if they search for something else that is in you. Haven´t you noticed that? There is not only one woman next to you! You are encircled!«

Vegeta slowly turned his head and really, six or seven of the creatures had formed a circle around him and all of them were staring at him with wide open eyes. That was a scary fact, but… somehow he did not want to fight to leave the circle, it was so calm in here…

»Vegeta!« Goku yelled again and fired a warning, but not really strong Ki-Shot at his companion. »Wake up, we must fight, I think that they… they want our souls. They are soul-eaters, or some kind of that. That´s why I have faded a little bit when it bit me.« He hit back another of the creatures, that wanted to attack him from behind, but that was not enough, more of them came from all sides, they had noticed that Goku was some sort of easy prey; that they had kind of a "ready to eat" meal here.

Once again Goku was bitten, and this time he really felt like fading away, like a piece of cloth that looses too much color in the washing-machine. »Gaah!« he roared. »Stay away from me… Vegeta… take care and fight! They want your soul!«

»Then let them take it.« the other man answered. »I am better off without a soul.«

»Vegetaaa!« Goku roared, but he was distracted, by his sorrows, and a big one of the creatures managed it to bite in his neck; like a tiger does with a piece of prey. This was not good… Goku felt himself drifting away through the wound in his neck… faster…

And suddenly an enormous flash of bluish light filled the whole area. Maybe never before there had been such an amount of light at this planet. The black figures screamed in unison; it was like the wail of a high-pitched siren. They´d never seen anything like that and their eyes were not able to adjust to such an amount of light. They were stunned in shock, but the big one that had taken Goku´s neck between his teeth, did not let go – he was too hungry. But when a heavy kick hit him at the side of the jaws, he lost his prey and stumbled aside.

»The dinner is cancelled!« Trunks shouted.

Goku was really something like "see through" for a while, but he did not wait for any invitation; he jumped to his feet and hurried to the creature that had sucked up a part of his soul, and when he touched it, he could feel his energy in the body of the enemy. Fortunately it was possible to get at least a part of it back, so that he had a little bit more shape; and with another flash of light he made the enemies draw back a little bit further.

In the meantime Trunks had reached his father, who still stood there like a statue. »Dad, are you allright? Are you still in there? I mean, your soul? Hello?«

»You are gone.« Vegeta replied. »It does not matter if I am here or not.«

What kind of answer was that? »No, I am here, although you left me behind at this other planet. Fortunately I had enough money left to buy another ship…« But he was relieved, his father seemed to be a little confused, but still unharmed.

»What´s wrong with him?« Trunks wanted to know from Goku, and turned to Giru one second later: »Could you please get us the Dragon Ball?«

The small robot went off to get the crystal orb, and Goku answered: »He said, that you touched the Seven-Sphere Dragon Ball and vaporized. Why are you here? Or are we dead now, and we are all in heaven? No, Giru wouldn´t be in the other world, would he? Or do robots who have a heart also go to heaven?«

»You are _both_ acting a little bit strange.« Trunks said with some concern in his voice. »I think we´d better go back to the ship, before these creatures are able to see again. Come on.« He took the Dragon Ball that Giru showed him, and started to fly, but then he turned around and landed again: »Did you say I _vaporized_? Oh.«

He started to laugh so heavily that he had troubles to stand upright. »That´s really great!« he panted for air and laughed tears again. »So… Sorry I… _haha_… and "tuff" like a soap bubble…_hahaha_…« Trunks took a deep breath and explained: »That was the effect of a Mirror-tree. The mirror-body followed you, father, for whatever cause – they act odd, you must know. I lost you and went to the market, to by some fresh food… and when I got back to the space-dock, you were gone.« Now he clenched his teeth, so that he wouldn´t start to laugh again: »I looked after you like a _mh_, well… just like a "left-behind-man". And one of the ground personnel tried to tell me that there was a mutiny on my ship.«

Vegeta shook his head; whatever he thought or felt, he never showed it, he only shook his head and answered: »Ok, let´s go. We need to find the last Dragon Ball.«

Goku smiled: »And that one will be with Pan.«


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: Kori**

Pan tried to be brave, but this was… impossible. The pain was worse than everything that had ever happened to her, and her first loud scream was a helpless call for her mother. »Mum how could you ever go through this two times, this is terrible…« She never knew how strong her Aura was in these painful moments.

Even on earth Videl seemed to notice with the instinct of a mother, that something was wrong with her daughter. It was terrible that she could not help her.

And Goku, who was well used to sense life energies, jolted upright in his bed and looked confused – and deeply worried. _Damn it what is wrong with her, she´d never been in such a terrible pain before_… what was going on there? And it was getting worse…

Vegeta asked: »Something wrong, Kakarott?«

»Yes…« Goku answered. »But don´t tell Trunks about it.«

»Don´t tell him what?« Vegeta came closer.

»Pan… she´s… in great agony… I can sense her Aura, it flashes like the guiding light of a lighthouse, that way…« he pointed the direction out. »But so full of pain…«

Vegeta hurried to the pilot´s chair: »I change the direction immediately. Maybe after all, we are able to find her now.«

Trunks was still asleep, but it looked like as if he felt the awful change in Pans life-light too; he had some kind of nightmare, but did not wake up.

The two others looked at each other in silence, then Vegeta accelerated the ship.

:-:

»Are you all right?« Furyon had opened the door to the room and looked in. This question was completely useless and nerve racking. »You are screaming as if you want to shatter the house into pieces.«

Pan grabbed the small vase that was next to her bed as a decoration, and smashed it against the door: »Out with you! Don´t bother me with silly questions now! Out, or I will rip your head off! And believe me I´ve got the strength left to do this with only one hand! Leave this room, if you want to survive!« She screamed again, then she turned to the other people that were in the room. These were Adan, the old healer, and another old woman who was the midwife of the village. »When will it be over?«

Tomam´s voice was audible in front of the door, and he dragged Furyon away: »Take care, the girls are very aggressive in this state, and they have powers you won´t believe. Adan broke three bones in my hand when she gave birth to our son. And Pan is a Saiyan – she´d really be able to rip your head off… let´s go. This is safer for both of us.«

Pan had to smile a little bit about that, and Adan told her the story, but the final labors came fast now, and Pan really had other things to think about than to listen to old stories. »Would you please give me some pain-killers?« she asked.

»We do not have pain-killers, only that tea, that eases the labors a little bit.« the healer said. »Do you want to have a bit of it?«

»Does the tea make it go faster?« Pan asked.

»No.« Adan answered. »But when I had my first child I had labors for almost one day. Your five hours are nothing…«

Pan tried to be friendly, but that was hard: »I am sorry but I… have enough with five hours…« She cried again. »I never imagined that it would be that hard.«

Adan continued: »And Tomam also suffered, because he was so worried about me, and it got worse when I broke his hand. But he was so happy when he saw our boy.«

Pan replied: »Please, I don´t want to hear stories about men now, I am so furious at my guy right at the moment! _He_ did that to me… _graa_… I don´t want to hear nothing at all, I only want, that it stops, please…« she yelled again, and was close to break the handle of the special birth-chair, but it was made of strong wood.

»One more.« the old midwife said. »Press as hard as you can with the next one.«

»Yes…« Pan whispered, and soon she felt it coming and yelled once more… she was close to get unconscious for a few moments, but the cry of a small voice called her back.

And then the old woman sighed relieved, and said: »It´s a girl…« She wrapped the little baby in a warm piece of cloth and handed it to Pan. »Here you are. That was worth the pain, wasn´t it?«

Pan smiled weakly: »Yes… of course. But if I get another one I prefer pain killers…«

They let her hold the baby for a while until they had cut the umbilical chord; then the midwife took it away to clean it, while Adan and the healer cared for Pan. Soon she was in her bed and felt relaxed, and the midwife returned with her little baby-girl.

»Do all human babies have tails?« The midwife asked Pan.

»No… usually not, but… Saiyan babies do.« the young mother replied and looked at her sleeping child. The little one also seemed to be exhausted after the birth. The baby had dark-blue hair, like the sky at midnight, and the tail that the baby had coiled around her waist was covered with silky, silver hair. The child was asleep, therefore Pan could not see the color of the eyes, but she could wait. The child was healthy and whether her daughter was a quarter Saiyan or not, did not matter.

Soft knocking at the door made her say: »Come in.«

Furyon and Tomam stepped in the room and came closer. Tomam brought a wooden baby bed with him, placed it next to Pan´s bed and looked curiously at the little baby. Then he stepped back, and put an arm around Adan´s shoulders. They couldn´t be prouder; they felt a little bit like grandparents.

When the mutant cast his first look at the child, the baby slowly woke up and yawned; and it seemed as if it looked back at him. He smiled, and asked: »Do you have already a name for your little girl?«

Pan shook her head: »Sometimes I thought of a name, but right now none of them seems to fit. Have you got any proposals?«

»Only one.« he said. »I´d call her Kori, if she was mine.« he cleared his throat. »_Kori_ means "daughter" in an ancient, Tsufurian language.«

Pan smiled back at him: »That´s a good name… I´ll call her Kori, if you don´t mind.«

»I don´t.« Furyon replied and stepped back a little bit.

Adan also cleared her throat and said: »And now we should all go out and let you two sleep a little bit.«

:-:

Gohan and Goten were back on earth. In summa they had three of the Dark Heart Dragon Balls now. "One", "two" and "three" lay on a tablet in the middle of the big table and all family members had gathered round it. Also Dende had come to visit them. The greenish Dragon Balls looked even more vicious when they were so close together.

Dende said: »They emit a very great energy. Everyone who has sensed this energy one tome, will be able find it again. It could lead the Tsuyan directly to us. Bulma, you should put it in an isolated box and lock them away.«

Gohan was the same opinion: »Yes, this is a good idea. I am afraid that they are also blocking our ability to sense life energies. Goten and I have met the Tsuyan, and we both remember his Aura. He can shield it of course – but maybe we have a chance to sense him coming. So that we could be at least a little bit prepared. The evil energy of these Dragon Balls disturbs our ability of Ki-sense. If they were out of the way it would be easier.«

Bulma nodded and went to the storage room to get different kinds of boxes; she had to try out which material would shield the Dragon Ball´s emits best.

Valese asked Goten: »Are you sure that you can sense him coming?«

He shook his head: »I am sorry, but the answer is _no_. He may be able to shield his Aura completely, and maybe we will notice him for the first time when he is here on earth and wishes to fight with us. We also must prepare for the worst case. We have to get the big space ships ready, that we used once to evacuate the earthlings.«

Bulla said: »But maybe you can convince the Tsuyan to fight at another place…«

Kori requested: »Why does he destroy everything? As far as I understood it, he was constructed to rule the galaxy. Why does he wipe out so many planets and species that could be part of his kingdom?«

Gohan sighed deeply and answered: »Because he does not care for anything. He can do what he wants, and nobody is able to hold him back. Maybe he will stop as soon as he tried everything that came to his mind. But this is only a small hope.« He looked at his grown up granddaughter with more strength in his eyes now: »Kori, tell me the name of the man that you call your uncle. This is really important. And please don´t lie to me.«

»I never really used it.« she answered. »It is the same as little Vegeta or Kaya never call their dad or mum with their names. But… he´s called Furyon, and he is a humanoid, as I have already told you, with greenish skin and white hair. One of his arms is usually missing, only when he is working, he uses his blue replacement-arm. It costs too much energy for him to have it all the time. Why do you want to know that? Why is his name so important?«

Goten growled: »Because we think that your "uncle" is the creator of that Tsuyan.«

Kori jumped to her feet: »I can´t believe that! He told me that this man, this Tsuyan, is our enemy. How can my uncle be the creator of that… thing?« She was close to cry.

Videl also stood up and took her hand: »We do not blame you, Kori! But I am afraid that this is true. Maybe we should tell you our story… Maybe we should have done that from the beginning on. There must not be any secrets… we are a family.«

So they started to tell Kori everything and after that long talk they were really exhausted, although sometimes the teller had switched. Kori bowed her head and buried her face in her hands, and all were silent; this was how Bulma found them.

At first she was worried but fast she understood that the truth was revealed now. And there was much more. She asked: »Gohan, you said the young boy looked much like Vegeta… But he took Pan; and she is a descendant from Goku. Why does the Tsuyan not resemble his face? Why does he look like my husband?«

Gohan shrugged his shoulders: »I do not know for sure, but the Tsufurian mutant somehow got Vegeta´s DNA material…«

Videl startled: »Kori is Trunks and Pans child… could it be that he misused… her twin brother?«

Gohan and Goten tried to look away and ignore this question, but at last they both had to admit that they had already thought about the same thing. »Well, it wouldn´t be that queer, would it?« Goten said. »But…«

Bulma roared: »I am going to kill him! Wait, if I´d ever get this Tsufurian mutant in my hands! How could he dare to lay his hands on my grandchild…«

Bulla interrupted: »Mum, do you recall that Kaya was attacked in the kindergarten; maybe he got some cells from her, or he somehow got a hair from dad or from Trunks, or one of mine, or from my son? This could also be a possibility.«

Gohan sighed: »Yes, this could be, but the mutant did not want to create an artificial life form, like Cell was. He must know that artificially fused cell material is dangerous, and maybe not one-hundred-percent effective. He wanted a natural, sort of "free will" fusion of both sides. Like… natural conception.«

»Brr…« Chichi shivered all over and prepared to yell something: »If he lay a hand on Pan I…« but she stopped. »We must never tell Trunks what we think about it…«

Goten shook his head: »No, it´s better if he doesn´t know, but… I think we cannot prevent him from his own thoughts. Dad visited us once in our space-craft and of course we talked about the Tsuyan. If he told Vegeta and Trunks about him, they already know that he looks like Vegeta. Trunks is clever, he will also start to think.«

»I do not understand.« Bullas daughter Kaya now said. »What is all the fuss about? If the "Tsuyan" is Koris brother, then he is our cousin. We only have to be nice to him. Maybe then he will be nice to us. He belongs to the family.«

Videl nodded: »Yes, Kaya, he belongs to our family somehow… and maybe you are right.« whispering, she turned to her husband: »But will we live long enough, until he has understood that we are his family? And will it have any effect on him?«

»I don´t know.« Gohan replied. »But I am afraid, that we won´t live long enough to persuade him to think about his doing. And I am afraid that we´ll find out more sooner than later. Oh, how I wished that we could change our fate somehow…«

:-:

Pan felt neither really good, nor really bad; but in general everything was okay. She had to stay in bed or in the house until a few days after the birth of her child, but now, as Kori was three weeks old, she had already started to train again. One hour per day she used outside the house doing her workout; and her "replacement-grandparents" were happy to be needed. Tomam and Adan said that she could stay at her training-grounds longer, if she wanted to; but after all Pan wanted to be with her child.

She could not sleep much, and never long, because Kori was hungry every three to four hours; but after a few, very confusing days, she had learned to live with it, and fell to sleep like a dead stone, whenever Kori was asleep in the night, but she was awake within a few seconds when her child needed her. Once or twice Adan and Tomam took the baby witht them to their room, so that Pan could sleep more than three hours at a piece, and this was relaxing, and a big help for the young mother.

But this night brought something new.

:-:

Giru had already localized the Dragon Ball and Trunks landed the ship at a place that was out of sight of the small village. None of them knew what was waiting for them. The village looked peaceful, but it could be that the mutant had taken control over all people, and that they all were their enemies. Was this a very big trap, or not? Did the mutant know that they were coming, or had he no clue? Without making any noise they flew closer to the place where the Dragon Ball was.

»It looks peaceful. They have no guards.« Goku said, when he looked at the village. »It is almost too noiseless, as if they have no fear at all. Even the dogs are quiet.«

Vegeta replied: »Maybe he´s taken control over all of them, or they are all dead. I can see no other space-crafts. If Pan is here, she cannot leave. This planet is maybe a giant prison for her. I do not know where he keeps her, but there is the Aura of the mutant. Out of this house.« He pointed straight ahead.

»I cannot sense Pan.« Trunks whispered. »But Giru says that the Dragon Ball is also in that house. Let´s go. We are here to find it out.«

Vegeta said: »Let´s shield our Auras and go closer. If we get him unprepared, he might not be able to react, or take any hostages. And I think, wherever this mutant is, Pan is not very far away from him.«

Trunks shivered: »Don´t say that, father… that thought makes me nervous. But yes, we should attack together, and fast.«

Goku nodded: »Okay. No mercy this time.«

Trunks said to Giru: »You wait at the ship. If something goes wrong, you have to go to earth and inform our family, is that clear? Don´t follow us until we say that it is ok.«

»Gi..gi…« Giru stuttered and went back to where they came from.

The three men also landed and sneaked closer to the house. Goku, who had back his old substance and was no longer a "semi-permeable-form" said: »Yes. He is definitely in there, I´ll never forget his life-light. And he is not shielding it, he is only asleep, and unaware. Let´s do it. Now.«

Vegeta held him back: »We must get as close as possible first.«

The door was not locked, so the three could walk in the dark house. The people that lived here, must feel very secure… anyone would lock the main door of the house.

Trunks whispered: »I still cannot feel Pan!«

»But the Tsufurian is in this room.« Vegeta growled. He reached out for the doorknob. »Quiet.« Everyone could hear that he also could hardly hold himself back. Long ago this parasite had lived inside his body and misused his powers. »Let´s attack.« he hissed.

The Tsufurian was sleeping. He was not in his own form, but the three friends could not take care of the host´s body now. If they would miss the chance, for sure the mutant would try to attack them again. They must take him out in an instant. They prepared energy-based attacks in their hands, and the light made it brighter in the room. Of course the mutant noticed that and woke up, but he was disoriented and could not react properly.

»Say goodbye.« Vegeta suggested. »You parasite.«

Goku smiled grimly: »I warned you, that I will interfere if you mess up with my family again. Today it will end.«

Trunks growled: »This is for Pan… and for me.« he raised his hand.

But before he could let his massive Ki-ball go, the concentrated energy was shot out of his hand by another energy blast, and smashed the window into pieces, ere it detonated somewhere outside. There was a blinding flash of light and the roar of thunder from there, and then it was dark again.

Everyone had frozen in the move that he wanted to make that second. This had clearly been a Saiyan attack…

»What the…« Vegeta turned to the door of the room.

Pan stood in the open door, and she looked very angry; around her there was a flaming light, and her hair sizzled golden. It looked like as if she was close to turn to a Super-Saiyan. But her voice sounded more disappointed than infuriated: »You attack a defenseless man? What happened to you? Grandpa? Vegeta? Trunks? I can´t believe it!« She still had one hand stretched out, as if she would strike again, if they would try to attack the Tsufurian.

This question hit the men like the strike of lightning. No other attack could have been worse than these words. She _defended_ him? Her kidnapper? She helped a creature that had destroyed the earth and had tried to kill them all? What had happened to her?

»Pan?« Trunks asked, totally in shock: »What´s wrong with you? Don´t you know me anymore? You shot at me!«

Pan was still furious: »Of course I know you, I know you all! But I never expected that you´d try to kill a sleeping man! That's insidious! And grandpa? I cannot remember that you ever taught me to attack someone from behind, like a coward? You are doing that right now!« She stopped to surround herself with extra energy and looked quite normal now.

Goku nodded: »Yes, you are right, Pan. Sorry. But no. There is no excuse for a cowardly attack like this. That was not really honorable.«

Pan smiled: »Yes, sure. But I stand surety for him. I am with him for months now and we have learned to trust each other.«

Trunks stuttered: »You are… with him?«

»Yes, and…« Pan became aware of what he had understood that very moment, and she smiled, shaking her head: »But not that way, Trunks, how could you ever think that… we are just business-partners, somehow.« She ran to him.

Such a long time had passed… but now, in the last parts of the second that passed by until she reached him, she noticed clearly how much she had missed him. She embraced him so intensely as if she´d never let him go again. »I am so happy that you are here…«

Finally Trunks also seemed to understand that it was over, that he really had her back. He took her in his arms, and it needed no words to explain what he wanted to say. He seemed to be so exhausted from all his fears that is knees gave way. He must have been much more worried than she was, and Pan of course knelt down with him, and still held him in her arms. He shivered and small tears of relief were in his eyes.

»It´s all right.« she said at low voice, and patted his back softly. She was also crying, but she still wanted to be there for him. That always helped with the baby, why shouldn´t it help the father? »It´s fine… stop sobbing and kiss me instead… I missed you so...«

Trunks smiled and kissed her shortly, but then, he let her get up, because she suddenly seemed so eager to greet the others. She darted to Goku and said: »Grandpa, you´ve got a halo! Have they let you go in heaven? For some sort of day-trip?« Pan hugged him too: »You must tell me what adventures you had when you went with Shenron.«

Pan turned to Vegeta. She perfectly knew that he hated sentimental scenes; but she also embraced him for a few seconds. »Hey Pan.« were the only two words he had for her, but that was enough; he smiled, and that said more than words ever could.

Pan went back to Trunks: »Come fast, I have to show you something.« She grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet and out of the room.

»I´ll go and wait in the living-room.« Furyon said. The mutant felt still very uneasy in this new situation, and wanted to leave the bed.

Vegeta warned him: »You go nowhere without me. No matter what happened here, I still do not trust you.«

»I do not trust you too.« the mutant replied; but all of them went outside to the living-room.

Tomam and Adan were also there – no one could continue sleeping after an explosion like that. »So this is your husband?« Adan asked and pointed at Trunks. »Then I think we´ll have another sleepless night. I´ll prepare some tea and cookies.«

»Hello, daddy.« Tomam greeted Trunks.

Adan slapped her husband: »Old lunatic. Keep quiet. That's a surprise!«

»What was that?« Trunks asked Pan, but she did not answer, instead of that she opened the door to her sleeping room and lit one of the candles that were standing there. Despite the low light Trunks immediately saw the sleeping baby and hurried to the little bed. »When was she born? She is so wonderful. And so small…«

Pan wrinkled her brow: »Why do you know that it´s a girl?«

»Oh… that is a long story. May I hold her?«

»Of course. Take her, she´s also your child. Her name is Kori.«

»I know…« Trunks said, but he realized that he might confuse Pan with that, and added: »I know that she´s mine, but… why didn´t you tell me, when we were still at home?«

Pan replied: »I did not know yet. I thought that it just had been a stressful time.« She smiled, and explained: »She´s about three weeks old now, if you count on earth´s time.«

»I am so sorry that I missed her birth, and that you had to go through this all alone.«

»But you are here now.« Pan answered and then she recognized Goku and Vegeta, who were standing in the door.

»So there is another one who will call me grandpa.« Vegeta said, but then he came closer and looked at his third grandchild. »A very cute baby. You´ve done a great job. And we know that she´s gonna be a very nice woman too.«

Now Pan was really puzzled: »Would you please tell me what you are talking about?«

Goku also looked at his great-grandchild and proposed: »If you want, let´s sit down in the living room. We´ll tell you everything.«

Pan nodded, but she asked: »May we have a few minutes alone, Trunks and I?«

Goku smiled and turned round to walk outside.

Vegeta said: »Of course. We wait for you and I promise that I won´t hit your "friend" to pieces for a while. At least I want to hear his explanation.«

When they reached the living room, Goku said to Vegeta: »This child is really wonderful. She´s a fusion of everyone of us – of us, of our wives, our sons, my grandchild and with her the family of Videl, and of course our fathers and all our Saiyan ancestors.«

Vegeta nodded: »Yes. And she´s three quarter Saiyan…«

»I noticed that too.« the voice of the mutant mixed up with the talk.

Goku and Vegeta looked at him with uprising anger, and Goku asked: »What do you want from this baby? Haven´t you already misused her little brother?«

»No… I never touched Pan and I never knew that she was pregnant; good gracious; if I would have known then, I would have been the happiest scientist ever! I surely would have tried to do what you accuse me of. But, _no_, I did not know. I went to earth to get the cell material from Vegeta – two hairs of Bulla and some hair from Kaya. I made my "heir" alone.«

»Your luck.« Vegeta informed him. »If I ever hear something different…« He stopped his talk, because Pan came to the living-room. Vegeta turned to her: »Did he ever hurt you?«

»We had some fights.« Pan answered. »But he never tried… you know what I mean.«

Goku asked: »Where is Trunks?«

»He´s asleep… he must have been so tired, that he fell to sleep while he was holding the baby. I´ll have a look at them in a while.« Pan sat down. »Tell me what I missed.«

Vegeta replied: »I understand. My son _must_ be tired after all that he had gone through. He hardly ever slept quietly during all that time. But listen, Pan, we´ll tell you everything that we know, and then we must go… we have to go back to earth, and then we need to take the Dark Heart Dragon Balls back to the center of the galaxy.«

Furyon asked: »To the center of the galaxy? You asked the Dragon of the Dark Chaos for help? Are you serious? This was the most idiotic thing you could ever do!«

Goku nodded: »Yes, we did, and he was a really unpleasant type.« But that second he seemed to remember something: »If you should ever need that information: The Dragon of the Dark Chaos tried to take Trunks greatest love away – the love for Pan.«

The Tsufurian was bewildered: »Why do you tell me that?«

Goku explained: »Just in case you need it, if something goes wrong. It´s a long story but when we told it, you will know.« And with these words he started to tell everything he knew, he also let Pan know what Trunks did to find him; and now and then Vegeta also added something that had happened on earth, before they had started to the Dragon´s lair, and how they had found the Dragon Balls, and they told what Gohan and Goten had told them.

When they were ready, Vegeta looked ad Furyon: »And now you. Tell us what you have done.«

Pan already knew this story and she was also exhausted. While the others were still talking, she fell asleep, and when Goku noticed that she was sleeping, he seized her in his arms and carried her to her bed, and laid her down next to her husband. He took the baby with him, because it was awake, but she needed only a new diaper. When he was ready with changing the diaper, he went back in the living-room, and handed the already sleeping child to Vegeta, because he wanted to eat some cookies and tea.

In the end the night was almost over, and Vegeta said: »Now we know everything about this Tsuyan, and that it is even worse than we feared. Nevertheless we should try to find some rest now; we need to start back to earth soon… You agreed to come with us, Tsufurian, so we can talk about a strategy a little bit later.«

Goku yawned and stretched his body, then he cast a longing look at the thick carpet in front of the fireplace. »This is my place. I am tired. Good night.« He jumped over there and curled up without caring anymore about his old enemy, the Tsufurian mutant.

Vegeta carried the baby back to its little bed, returned to the living room and took place on the couch. Furyon was already back in his room. It couldn't be more than two, maybe two and a half hours ere the sun would rise, but a short break would help them all.

:-:

When Pan woke up, the light of the morning sun enlightened the room. Kori was silent, and she turned to the other side where Trunks was still sleeping. For the very first second, the moment between sleeping and being awake, she had not been able to tell whether all that had happened had been a bad dream or not. But now she realized where she was; still far away from home but at least not lonely anymore.

The baby seemed to notice that Pan was awake and started to cry softly, so she took Kori out of the bed and started to feed her. A few minutes later Trunks woke also up and smiled at his two closest family members.

»Good morning, Papa.« Pan said to him.

»Good morning, Mama.« he replied and kissed her at the forehead and placed an arm around her shoulder.

But it was not quiet for a long time, there was a soft knock at the door and after an invitation Adan came in: »The breakfast is ready, if you want to come.«

»Yes. Of course we come.« Pan had noticed the sad undertone in Adans voice. »Thank you so much for all that you´ve done for me.«

Adan smiled weakly: »Your father-in-law told me that you are going to leave today.« She sobbed. »I know I should rather be happy for you than cry… but…«

Pan handed the baby to Trunks and went to the old woman: »Adan, please don´t cry. You did so much for me, I can never pay this back… you will always be one of the grandparents of my child. And if we have any possibility, we will visit you again.«

Adan still sobbed, and guided her guests to a fully equipped breakfast-table. It looked like as if all the villagers had helped to create only the best food. »Now eat, or the tea and the coffee will get cold.«

Tomam said: »I packed you some supplies for your journey. You need fresh food, Pan, to have good food for your baby.«

Only a few hours later they really had to depart. The time was running out and they could not stay any longer. Pan hugged Adan and Tomam for a last time, and Tomam gave Kori a little, golden chain with a sky-blue stone pendant.

»This is a luck-charm, that we give all our children.« he explained.

»Thank you.« Pan replied, then she took a firm hold of her baby and started to fly.

»Furyon?« Adan said. »If your mission is over, you could come back and live here. We would need your scientific genius here. And we´d like it to have you here.«

Son Goku said to the old couple: »I thank you so much that you have been there, when my granddaughter needed you.«

And Trunks also smiled and told them: »I have no words that could express how glad I am that Pan found so good friends… You cared for her, and I will never forget that.«

Vegeta also waved a short goodbye; then they parted. Together they headed for the space craft. Giru was full of joy when he saw Pan again, and the small robot started to search for a little baby bed.

Meanwhile Furyon said: »Please bring me to the planet Gram Prime. It is a high-technology planet… I have to do something there. It´s tree flight days away from here, unfortunately in the opposite direction to earth, but I have an idea, how I could help you.«

Vegeta was alarmed: »You have got a plan? I am still not sure that we can trust you, and now we shall let you go?«

»Yes.« the Tsufurian said. »I always have a plan in my mind. Take me there, and I will try to help you to survive. I am not the fighter I once was, but maybe my scientific genius can help you. Please bring me to that planet. We´ve got three days time to talk about everything, maybe then you will understand.«

Trunks replied: »Well, then let´s start talking. I set course to that planet.«


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: Time to die?**

Bulma and Videl were in the communication room, when the radio started to blink. Immediately Bulma sat down and answered the transmission that came from the space-craft: »You did not call us for almost _two_ months! We were so worried! What happened?«

Trunks informed her: »We found Pan! She is all right… We´re coming home now. I am sorry that we did not call you but I never found a way how to transmit the signal.«

Bulma and Videl cried out in joy, and the others heard that noise; and started running to the communication room. At first they had misjudged the howl to be a bad sign, but within a second it was clear that their search was over. Soon almost the whole family, except Urian and Merve, who had to go to school, were in front of the radio, and after a little bit of trying, they also had a black-and-white video-signal. Everyone at home could see Pan now, and of course they noticed the little baby that she held in her arm.

»Is that Kori?« Gohan asked. »My granddaughter? She´s already born?«

»Yes.« Pan answered. She already knew the story and since there was a video signal now, she could see her grown-up daughter next to her mother on the computer-screen. She turned to her: »Kori, you are a very beautiful young woman.«

»Thank you.« the older Kori replied. »Please don´t be insulted that I do not greet you with more joy. I cannot remember you from my baby days, so this is the first time for me that I see you, and hear your voice… mother.«

Pan smiled: »I also had never expected to meet you that way. But it is nice.«

Vegeta interrupted: »That´s all fine, but we haven´t got much time to talk. We need a good plan; we are still in the middle of all this misery. Pan is safe and this is very fine, but that Tsuyan is still out there destroying planets; and we must get rid of him. And we need to get the Dragon Balls back to the center of the galaxy. If we do not do that, we, will lose it all.«

Videl asked: »Are you really sure that this Tsuyan is that cruel? I mean, he… is a child after all. Maybe he only needs the presence of someone he might like.«

Son Goku said: »The Tsufurian told us much about him, and as far as I think, the creature is really dangerous. He does not have any conscience or emotions, because he never grew up with them. But surely he is not crazy. I mean, he perfectly knows what he does; he only does it without regret, or a clear reason. It´s still like a child´s play for him, and he uses everything that he finds as a tool to have fun. By the way, Chichi, why haven´t you never called me in heaven? There is a phone at Dende´s palace and one at Yemma´s, so…«

Chichi answered: »I had so much to do, I forgot to call. I mean, I did not forget you, of course, Goku, but I see that you look like as if you had had loads of fun, wherever you have been all the time. But…« she sobbed. »It is so good to see you again and talk to you.«

»Well, then remember to call me next year, ok? I want to know how my great-grandchild grows up.« Goku said, and asked: »Is this little Goku, in Gotens arms? I never knew about him, too. You must know that I want to be informed about my family.«

»I am sorry, Goku. Next year I will call you.« Chichi swore and bowed her head.

Goten answered: »Yes, this is little Goku.« and he turned to his son. »Do you see your granddad there?« He pointed at the screen and waved.

Gohan did not really listen to this talk, he had wrinkled his brow, and thought about something that his dad had said; but now he said: »The Tsuyan is a child, yes, and almost everything is new for him. And he is attracted by new challenges; therefore he attacked the planets on his way at so many different ways. He never used the same method twice. He wants to try everything, and if we give him something new to try; we maybe win some time. Maybe we win so much time that you can get the Dragon Balls back to the center of the galaxy in the meantime; so that we are at least rid of one problem. Then we could all concentrate on the Tsuyan.«

Bulma exclaimed: »That´s a good idea. We will surely find much, that he did not see or try before, even if it is just how to solve a crossword-puzzle. We´ll get you the time that you need to bring the Dragon Balls back, and to come back here. Then we can be all together, « She smiled. »I´ll send a small automatic space-craft to you immediately, to deliver you the tree Dragon Balls which we´ve got on earth.«

»Yes, do that.« Vegeta was really proud that his wife had such a fast-understanding mind. »Wait a moment, Bulma…« He checked something at another screen in the space ship. »As I can see on our computer, we could make a good rendezvous-point next to the Moons of Derva, they are about in the middle of our course to earth. From there we could make a shortcut to the center of the galaxy.«

»The Moons of Derva, right.« Bulma said and started to work on her own computer. »Yes, that should work.« She turned to Shane: »Would you please run downstairs and get me the Prototype-Capsule number three-fifteen out of the safe number twelve in the storage room? This must be the ideal space-craft to send the Dragon Balls to the other ship. We must not lose time. As soon as they are gone we´ll feel much better here. No one likes them.«

The young pilot nodded, but when he left, he took his two children, little Vegeta and Kaya, with him: »Help me with the search please, I do not exactly know in which corner of the cellar this safe is.« In reality course he knew where this safe was, because he also lived in this house; but he wanted to distract his children a little bit.

Bulla said: »As long as we have made no mistake, you should be able to meet the un-manned space-ship at the Moons of Derva in two weeks and one day. We´ll program the delivery ship that way, that it stops at this planet system; even if you need one or two days longer to get there, you will find it in the orbit of the biggest of the moons.«

A short rush of snow and hiss run through the transmission.

»Within one minute, we will lose our contact.« Trunks said. »We are approaching an interstellar fog-cloud of high energy particles. It will cut us off our communication completely. Is there anything left you want to tell us, then do it now, and fast!«

Bulma promised: »We´ll start the small ship today, I hope within the next two or three hours. Please hurry to the center of the galaxy, and leave those vicious Dragon Balls there. If they are away from earth, the Tsuyan might not be able to find us.«

Goten shook his head: »I am sorry that I have to say this, but I don´t think that he will let us go so easily. He said that he wants to meet us again, because we seem to be good opponents for him. And if he does not find us, he will force someone to tell him, where the Saiyans have gone to. Lots of people out there know, that we are on earth.«

»I guess you are right.« Goku said. »Oh how I wished that I could help you somehow, but I promised Shenron that I´ll never come back to earth.«

»We know that, dad.« Gohan answered. »And we do not blame you. You´ve been such a great help already, we can´t thank you enough.«

Goku replied: »You know I´d try everything to keep my family safe, even if it means to return from a trip with Shenron. So our next goal is clear… we get the Dark Heart Dragon Balls back to their place so that this part of danger is over.«

Trunks said in that moment: »But what, if not?«

»What if _not_?« Bulma asked in alarm, but the hiss in the communication increased so much that they lost the video signal at first.

Trunks replied to her question: »What if we do _not_ give the Dragon Balls back? Mother, think about it for a while! We would have still got a lot of time to take them back. The dragon gave us _five_ years to send them back. What if we´d keep them… as a kind of insurance for…« The radio transmission broke down.

Gohan completed the words of his son-in-law: »for the worst case scenario. I am sure that he wanted to say that. But well, it´s worth some thinking.«

Videl shook her head: »What are we talking about now? The whole galaxy will be destroyed if we do not give them back.«

Gohan said at low voice: »I know. But if we lose our fight, and cannot stop the Tsuyan, sooner or later also everything in the galaxy will die. He won´t stop to make his experiments with living creatures – and god knows what he´ll do as soon as he starts to get bored, because he had tried everything out.«

:-:

Vegeta, Goku and Pan looked at Trunks.

»What do you mean?« Pan wanted to know.

»Well.« her husband explained. »It sounds unreal, but it may be our only chance. If we find out, that we cannot win, and that even Furyon´s idea – which is very good, I must admit –does not work; the whole galaxy is doomed to be the Tsuyan´s great playground. Sooner or later everyone will die. Furyon also said one day, that the Tsuyan cannot live in outer space, because he needs air to breathe he cannot withstand the zero-pressure in the vacuum, and that he is driving a good, but not a perfect space ship. He is not used to Instant Transmission, because they never trained that. He is fast, but not fast enough to escape a collapsing galaxy. It is maybe the only possibility to get rid of him – when we have no other chance. If the whole galaxy is sucked up by that immense black hole, he won´t be able to flee.«

Goku asked: »You suggest that we should sacrifice the whole galaxy to kill him?«

»Only if it is needed.« Trunks gave back. »We should try every other possibility before, but if we are not successful, we might at least be able to save the other galaxies that are around us, in this universe… but… wait a moment, we´ll discuss that later…«

Vegeta tried to remember something: »I think, I recall that Kori told us that she and her "uncle" had to flee a lot of times to avoid contact to the Tsuyan, until they ended up at a planet far out at the rim of our galaxy. Which would mean, that in a little bit over twenty years the Tsuyan will have destroyed everything except some small places; at least in the future that the older Kori came from. Twenty-one years might be a long time for some people; but…«

Pan shook her head: »Sacrificing the galaxy should be our very last thought. Let us concentrate on something else now; we should try to find as much things that the Tsuyan does not know and that might interest him; to hold him up. Maybe we can distract him so much from his destructive play that he starts to listen to us. And if he listens to us, he will stop to kill, at least for a moment.«

Goku nodded: »That's not a bad idea. If we somehow could talk to him, we may be able to… I don´t know the right words. Maybe just _change_ him.«

Vegeta growled: »Kakarott, you still hestitate to kill someone, even he is the destroyer of all live in the galaxy?«

Goku smiled: »Yes. But at first we have to get through _this_ alive.« he pointed outside and now it was clear why Trunks had not taken part in this discussion any more.

The violent red interstellar fog was more dangerous than they had imagined, and it was bigger than expected. It expanded very fast, as if the remnants of at least one full solar system had combined to a bits-and pieces-mass here after a Super Nova. It was like flying into a cloud made of cotton candy – not as sticky, but they could not see through it at all. Sometimes small flashes of electricity jumped between thicker parts of the cloud; then there were parts of more dense material like ice, or dust.

:-:

»Kori, did your uncle ever tell you _when_ your family died, I mean, do you have any clue at what date the earth will be attacked?« Gohan asked his grown-up granddaughter.

She tried to remember: »I do not know exactly, but he had some sort of calendar in the computer, where he noted everything. I was never allowed to look at it, but, as children are sometimes, I sneaked in his bureau once, and did the forbidden thing. I am not sure now; but I think that planet New Namek was destroyed in the year 801, and Yardrat also in 801. Of course I did not know why they were destroyed; I remember only that my uncle was very angry when he found out that I had been reading in his private files. But he told me that earth, and all my relatives died one year before Namek was gone. So it must be in 800. This is also the year that I was born. Therefore there was never a chance to visit my family.«

Bulma sighed: »Yes… the seasons have changed.« She looked out of the window. The winter was over, and the first days of spring were here. Such a long time had passed since Pan had been kidnapped in the summer of the last year – nine months ago. They had only celebrated their Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve to make the children happy, but the grown-ups did not really remember one of those events. There had been too many other things to think about.

»That means, in the future that you remember, Kori, we will all die this year, and earth will be destroyed; if your appearance here has not changed too much already.«

Kori nodded: »My uncle said that I was only a few weeks old when my family on earth died. My mother died not long after that. I am afraid that I my appearance here did not change the situation very much. The killer is still on the way through the universe. It won´t be long until the Tsuyan will be here… we should be prepared.«

Bulma sighed: »Yes. Nevertheless, we send the Dragon Balls to Vegeta, Trunks, Goku and Pan now. We do not need them on earth and maybe that buys us some time.«

»But at the costs of someone else.« Valese said. »If it is true, that the Tsuyan will start to search for my husband and his brother, he may kill lots of people on his way to get the information that he wants. Is that fair?«

Bulla said at hard voice: »Life is not always fair, Valese. But we should think of an evacuation plan for the rest of earth´s life forms. Just in case. We´ve got big space-ships, and should start to prepare them in silence, so that everything is ready.« She turned to Mr. Satan: »The people love you. Would you please start to think of the right words to inform the people of the world, that we need to evacuate them, if it is really needed?«

Mr. Satan shivered, but he nodded: »Of course.«

Gohan said: »That's a good thought, Bulla, but we must not forget out training. We are the only ones who can held him up. Maybe you could go to the Hyperbolic time chamber for a while. Kori, Merve, the twins and you haven´t been in there yet. I can also go in for a short time to show you everything. Unfortunately Gohan has been in there twice, and everyone is allowed to be there only two times in his lifetime.«

Bulla said: »Yes, this is a good idea. I want to take part in the fight for my family, but I am sure that the training here is not long enough. Kaya and little Vegeta will like it too.«

Shane, who had come back in the meantime, said: »If you go to train there, Bulla, I will take care of the preparation of the space-ships. I am not a fighter, but I am a good pilot. I think I could help there.«

Valese also said: »I will help him as much as I can. My daddy has a lot of money, we surely can organize a lot of food supplies and the fuel. You go and fight, Goten, and Merve.«

Videl was her opinion: »I also will do what I can. As I am Mr. Satans daughter and the mother of the current major, the people will listen to me. Chichi, will you help me?«

Bulma sighed: »Then let us begin. We need to get the unmanned ship on it´s way first. Even if Vegeta and the others decide not to bring the Dragon Balls back. At least we do not have them on earth any longer. I can´t stand their presence in my house.«

:-:

Rumors. It were no more than rumors, but most times it were only stories that made things worse. When Goku, Vegeta, Trunks and Pan stopped at the planet Nitchau to get some fuel, everyone there had heard of a new danger that threatened the galaxy. There were tales about a single warrior who did that all, and the visitors could notice that the inhabitants of the planet were cautious against aliens. They were friendly and sold them food, water and fuel, but they seemed to be happy when the ship left again.

»But we should have enough fuel now to reach the Moons of Derva.« Trunks said. »I am sure that mum will send us some super-fuel capsules with the Dragon Balls.«

Vegeta nodded and stopped playing "grab the finger" with his granddaughter. »Of course she will. In the meantime they had enough time to think about the other possibility; about your proposal not to give back the Dragon Balls. We will have enough fuel whether to send this ship to the center of the galaxy or out of it. It´s about the same distance.«

Pan growled: »But this must really be our last choice! I still do not want to risk it.«

Goku said: »Of course. But I am worried about something else. We´re far away from that fog-cloud now, and we still cannot make contact to earth. Our ship is not damaged. Normally it should be easy to call them now.«

Trunks tried to explain it: »The ship is okay, but I need the support of some planetary satellites or other communication devices. If there are no planets or equivalent places in out flight route that could catch the signal and transmit it, we cannot make contact. But you are right. There should be at last _two_ planets that have the abilities for interstellar communication, directly in our route. The first ones are the Moons of Derva, the second system should be Imecka. But there is no one that answered my request for passing on the signal.«

Pan jumped to her feet: »You mean… they are gone?«

»I hope not.«

Goku said: »I´ll try to make contact to an Aura we know on Imecka, maybe I can have a look around there with Instant Transmission.« But there was nothing, the planet Imecka was gone, or at least lifeless. »I cannot find any trace of life there.« he sighed.

Vegeta said: »The Imeckans knew where Trunks, you and Pan came from, did they? So the Tsuyan might have asked them before he killed them. He´ll find the way to earth.«

An unpleasant silence crept through the ship, and the only one who did not notice that was the little baby; as the most times she was smiling and happy. All in all Kori was a calm and relaxed baby that did not cry much, and she always made her family feel a little bit better, even in situations like that.

When they finally reached the Moons of Derva, the small robot ship was already waiting in the orbit of the biggest of the moons, but nothing else seemed to be there. Goku could sense life energies, but all the satellites of the Moons of Derva had gone, and it seemed as if they had lost every source of electricity too. Trunks went outside to get the new ship in the entrance deck, whilst the other three tried to make some contact with the inhabitants of the Moons of Derva, but no one answered.

»They are there but they seem as if they try to hide themselves completely.« Goku said. »Therefore they have destroyed every satellite and they keep their homes dark – so that no one notices that they are there. We should not disturb them.«

Vegeta nodded: »Trunks is already back in the ship. Let us fly out of this solar system. We should leave them alone if they want to.«

Trunks carried the small robot ship to the living room, and opened it. There were the three Dragon Balls and two capsules full of fuel in it. They stored the viciously glittering Dragon Balls in a safe case immediately. It was unpleasant to see them all together; they knew somehow that they were re-united, and seemed to share their evil energy.

When they had a second look at the small robot ship, Vegeta found a little USB-device and plugged it into the board-computer, because he was curious what kind of data might be on it. And in the next moment their insides seemed to freeze, because it was such a shock.

_This was a farewell-message. _

Bulma was the first to speak. Her voice was calm, but one could see clearly that she had to exercise this speech a few times, to get through it: »Please be prepared that you maybe can´t come back to earth. Our time is running out, and we do not know if you will still find your home, when you come here. We try to evacuate as much people, animals and plants as we can; Dende talked to the Namekians and they said that we are welcome at New Namek. Maybe we will be able to meet there. But we also prepare to fight, and you know what that means; some family members will stay behind until the last minute. I do so much hope that we will see us again. Vegeta, I think you know very well what I want to say to you. Trunks, my son… and Pan; gosh… now I have trained so much, and I am nevertheless running out of words…« she smiled. »Take good care for Kori. And Goku; my oldest friend – we´ve had a good time together, had we?« she cleared her throat. »Here are the others.«

Chichi sat down in front of the camera: »Pan, my darling, you´ll keep an eye on Goku and Trunks, and Kori will you? You are my grandchild, and I will be with you. Whatever happens.« She smiled and turned the camera to another direction.

Videl and Gohan took her place: »Pan, I am proud to be your father.« Gohan said. »Trunks, Vegeta, and Goku… stay alive, okay?« Videl added: »Pan, I love you so much that I can´t find words for it. But as your grandmother said, we will always be with you; your grandma, your granddad Satan, your dad and I. Run away, if it is too dangerous. You must stay alive… for us, and for Kori.«

Her little brother Urian joined the parents and said: »Big sister, I will also try to be strong. I will be the co-pilot for Shane´s starship. You come back to me, will you?«

Goten, Valese, Merve and little Goku were there now. Goten said: »Well, my little niece… and papa, and Trunks, and Vegeta… Maybe you´ll be here in time and then we will fight side by side. But we will see us again; may it be here, or elsewhere. If I cannot come to Namek, you will find Valese and little Goku there, will you? Merve will stay with me.«

Bulla, Shane and the twins also were there. Bulla said: »Brother, and father… I am happy that you are out there, and that you will survive. I will stay back on earth with the others and fight. Don´t be surprised! At last I am the daughter of the Prince of the Saiyans, and I can fight… if I want. Kori and I trained a lot. And also the kids will fight… they are your grandchildren, dad, and you will be proud of them.«

Grandpa Satan and Kori were the last. Satan told them: »I will organize the evacuation of the earth. Pan-sweetie, please meet me on Namek, don´t leave me alone.« and Kori said: »Good luck. I hope that I could make some change to it, but we still do not know. I try my best to help here.«

Then the record was over.

Pan was crying, and Trunks held her in his arms, the baby between them. They all knew that this had been the last message from their family. Something very bad must have happened at home.

Goku whispered: »This message is two weeks old… we do not know if earth still exists…« He bowed his head and sat down.

»Damnit.« Vegeta cursed. »If I ever get this Tsuyan in my hands…«

Goku jumped up again: »No! I can´t just sit here. I must try something. Don´t be mad at me if I don´t come back. They might ban me from returning, because I am up to break some rules now!« he prepared to leave with Instant Transmission.

Pan yelled: »Please don´t leave me, wait… we need you.«

»We must do it.« Vegeta needed all his strength to say that. »We must turn around and leave the galaxy… then we destroy the Dark Heart Dragon Balls, and the galaxy will collapse. We kill this Tsuyan! We will take revenge for all the lives he wiped out. And then we somehow must try to live on. They want it, and we should respect their last wish.«

Trunks interrupted him: »But wait, what if…« And in that second his cunning brain seemed to work on fast-forward-speed again. »What if we had some Super-Power-Dragon Balls too? I mean, we destroy the Dark Heart Dragon Balls, but we have seven others, and a mighty Dragon that could grant us the wish to restore the galaxy as it was – without the Tsuyan, and without the evil Dragon of the Dark Chaos.« He took a deep breath: »We´d need a strong Namekian to make the Dragon Balls and the galaxy needs the Kaioshin… We grab these two persons and leave the galaxy. This might be a dangerous plan, but maybe our only chance. At least we could try, as long as we are still alive.«

»But yes!« Goku was fascinated. »This is a fabulous plan! I´ll be back… Yuppie.«

Vegeta murmured with sarcastic voice: »What a happy guy. _Yuppie_, he says.« he turned to his son: »But what if they cannot make such powerful Dragon Balls?«

Pan was also doubtful: »But we should try to get back to earth. They sent those messages two weeks ago. Maybe they are still there, and maybe the fate has turned somehow. We must not risk to lose it all; unless we are convinced that there is no other choice.«

Trunks nodded: »You are right.«

Goku was back only a minute later; and Dende was with him. The God of earth held the figure of the Holy Dragon clenched in his hands. It was the one and only thing the Namekian had taken with him from his palace – Master Popo had handed him the little golden figure a moment before Goku had disappeared again.

»What a wonder.« Goku was surprised. »I could materialize at God´s Palace. Maybe this was some sort of special allowance, but I never thought that I could get _that_ close to earth. What a luck, so I could get one of the best Dragon Ball makers here.« He sighed. »But there was also something else. I sensed a very, very powerful energy at earth. I did not know it but I decided to go before I got noticed. Otherwise he might have found Gods Palace.«

Dende yelled: »That´s what I tried to tell you all the time! That´s the Tsuyan, he arrived yesterday, and I wanted to tell you that I am needed at home! When they start to fight, I wanted to be there to help! And I talked to Master Yemma to let Piccolo out of hell to help us…« He cast a look around in the space ship and saw Vegeta, Trunks, Pan, and the baby. »But I think you also have your reasons. May I ask why you brought me here?«

Goku pleaded: »Wait a moment, I will get the Kaioshin here, so that he also hears…«

With a sigh, but still a friendly look on his face, the Kaioshin appeared out of his own will in the little space-craft: »Sorry, I was looking at the destroyed system of Toya… I did not realize that you were talking about me. Excuse me, if I am late. What are we talking about?«

Trunks said: »We are worried, what will happen to the galaxy and maybe the whole universe if we are not strong enough to defeat the Tsuyan. He is still a child and if he is so powerful to kill us all right now, what will be if he is grown up? So we had the idea not to bring back the Dark Heart Dragon Balls, and…«

»You want to wipe out the whole galaxy!?« the Kaioshin shouted. »That´s horrible.«

Vegeta continued: »Yes, I know. All life-forms in the galaxy will be wiped out, and also the Tsuyan. He is a life-form after all; and we will do everything that he cannot escape.«

Goku said: »We need a new set of very powerful Dragon Balls, so that we can ask Shenron to restore the galaxy, without the Dragon of the Dark Chaos, and without the Tsuyan – and maybe without some really vicious folk that do no good.«

Dende shivered and said: »But I cannot make such powerful Dragon Balls. I am already the god of a planet; I don´t think that my work would be so immensely powerful that one could save the whole galaxy with it. And I would need time; and we do not have much time. But still, if I´d try, my powers would be too weak. I´d need a King Kai´s help at least…«

»Well, that's why I am here for, I guess.« the Supreme Kaioshin said.

Pan asked: »Do we really want to risk that?«

Goku, Trunks and Vegeta looked at each other, and all three nodded slightly.

Then Trunks said: »_"We"_… is not an option any more. You will do it, Pan. You, the baby, Dende and the Kaioshin.«

Pan was shocked. She hugged her baby a little bit tighter and sat down at a chair: »What are you talking about?«

Goku smiled: »You heard him very well, Pan. And I think you already understood. I will take Trunks and Vegeta home; and then I will go to talk to Yemma, maybe we can get some sort of "go" for Piccolo for a while. He will be a great help there.«

Vegeta said: »We will try to buy you some time.«

For a few seconds there was absolute silence.

Then the Kaioshin said: »Okay. I think I have an idea. It´s crazy, but it maybe a chance! Dende and I will _fuse_ as long as we need to make the new Dragon Balls; and we will make them at the holy planet of the Kaioshin; it is rather small and we will find them much faster, if they should scatter themselves. I do not really know how they would react.«

Dende warned: »But then we must stay fused until we called the Dragon, and he granted our whish. Otherwise the Dragon Balls will turn into stone, because the person that made them does not longer exist.«

The Kaioshin nodded: »This is no problem. I made new Potaras – you know, those fusion earrings – and they work like the old ones, but the fusion is ended if one Potara is removed. That way we can make the Dragon Balls useless after everything is over, so that no one ever can abuse them.« He cleared his throat. »We will prepare everything, but we will keep a close eye on earth. If you should somehow be

Vegeta smiled a little bit: »Well then, we should try.«

Pan still was not content: »But if we have those mighty Dragon Balls, couldn´t we just wish the Tsuyan away and leave everything else as it is?«

»I do not know if that would work.« the Kaioshin said. »My powers and I think, also Dende´s powers are based on good energy. I do not know if the Dragon Balls that we make would allow us to _kill_ someone – even if it is an evil creature. But they are surely mighty enough to restore the galaxy. To _protect_ and _create_ and to _help_ life-forms and solar systems.«

Pan nodded silently, then she sobbed: »But I do not want to be parted from you again. I don´t want to be alone once more. Stay with me, Vegeta, and Trunks, and grandpa.«

Trunks bowed down to her and kissed her on the cheek. »You are not alone. We are all here.« He placed a hand on the head of his sleeping daughter, and smiled. »And you have Dende and the Kaioshin. This is a very exclusive company.«

He turned to Goku: »I am ready.«

Vegeta asked: »How much time do you think you would need?«

Dende shook his head: »I do not really know. The more time you can give us, the better it will be. But… the best of all would be if there would be another solution.«

Goku said: »We all would wish that there is another way. We´ll see. Good bye…«

Before there could be more tears or a trace of hesitation, Trunks and Vegeta took hold of Goku´s shoulders and he used his Instant Transmission to get them to Gods palace.

»Oh, wow.« Dende was surprised. »What a plan…«

The Kaioshin said: »I´ll zap us to my planet, with the space-craft and all. We should start immediately to make the Dragon Balls. If we do not need them we still can turn them into stone again.« He touched the ship with one hand; and Dende and Pan also put a hand on the Kaioshin.

Within a blink they were in the sky of the planet of the Kaioshin and Pan handed the little baby to the astonished Kaioshin, so that she had her hands free to land the ship properly. When she touched down, she opened the door. »At least I can have a long walk now.« she said. »I´ve been in this ship for a too long time.«

The Kaioshin said: »I think the baby needs a fresh diaper.«

Pan replied: »Then change it. The fresh ones are in the drawer over there. Or let Dende do it, if you are afraid that you cannot do it.«

»Excuse me, but we are gods…« Dende complained.

Pan did not accept this argument: »The others left me alone with you. Gods or not, you will learn how to care for a baby. But for this time, I´ll show mercy. Give her to me.«


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: Plan B**

When Goku, Trunks and Vegeta arrived at earth, they were welcomed by Popo. He asked if Dende was ok and when they confirmed, Popo was happy and promised: »I will take Goku to the master of the other world; King Yemma. If we can we bring Piccolo as fast as possible. He will be great help, and I know that he wants to fight with you.«

Vegeta asked: »Is the Tsuyan already here?«

Now the face of god´s servant got a little bit sadder: »Yes, he is and he started to kill here on earth. Dende and I felt creatures dying. But he kills in a strange way, he fights one wild beast after another. As if he wants to find out which one is strongest. He also picked two strong humans, a man and a woman, as opponents, but they were defeated. Then he continued with the animals that he could find.«

Vegeta said: »I do not understand your words. Does he not look out for the Saiyans?«

»No.« Popo explained. »It is as if earth is a playground and he tries if it is easier to fight an elephant or a wild tigress, a bear or a nest full of hornets; a single man or a werewolf. He seems to have no intention to fight your people; and he has not yet asked for them, but the earthlings are starting to get nervous. This is dangerous.«

»I see.« Trunks said. »Maybe it started like this on the planet, that Gohan and Goten visited – I mean, you told us about, Goku. The army there tried to attack him at last, and destroyed everything. But I cannot figure out whether he is trying to tease us or… whether he does really want to "learn" in this strange way? Maybe we could use this curiousness somehow. If we show him things he´d never seen before he might be interested and stops fighting, until we found out more about him. He surely has changed on his long way to the earth, because he has seen many things.«

Vegeta cut off the discussion: »Never mind now, son. Let us go home. We´ve been away for a long time. I want to see the others.«

Popo also nodded: »I watch from above and keep contact with Goku. He cannot leave gods palace. The force of the other side strictly forbid this.«

Goku waved goodbye and went with Popo, whilst the other two started to go home.

:-:

It was soon clear, that the evacuation had already started. Three big space-ships were waiting outside the Western capital; each one had enough room to save people as well as animals. Mr. Satan´s face was at the big TV-screens at the center plazas of the Western Capital, and he told the people with a stern face, that they had to be prepared to be evacuated within the next two days. As a plausible reason for all the fuss he told them that a big asteroid was on collision course with the earth and that it was not clear if the officials were able to stop it or not, and that the evacuation was just to be sure that everyone was safe if the earth could not be saved.

There was no real panic, but everyone felt uneasy. The memory of the past devastations had been cleared off their minds, but they had needed a lot of time to repair all the damages, that the "giant earthquakes and other natural catastrophes" had done to their planet. Only the Saiyans knew that these had been the effect of the Shadow Dragons.

Finally they landed at home, directly at the balcony of the private living space in Bulma´s big house. As soon as they opened the balcony door to get in the house, Bulma came running closer. She had been in the bedroom packing some suitcases, and heard a noise.

She stopped dead when she saw her husband and son. »You are here? Is this a dream… or not?« Tears came to her eyes.

»I am sure that this is no dream, mother.« Trunks replied. »We are really here to help; and we have got a good backup plan. I will tell you later more about it.«

»My son!« Bulma yelled and hugged him. »I never thought that I´d see you again – but Trunks, why are you here? You should have stayed with Pan and your child. You would have been save there… and you, Vegeta… you should have hold him back there, in safety! And you should have stayed there too. Why have you returned?«

»My life is here.« he replied, smiling. »I won´t let you have all the fun alone. The Prince of the Saiyans does not run away. Never!«

Bulma tried to wipe off her tears with a handkerchief: »As crazy as ever, Vegeta…« she knew that he did not like it if she embraced him when another one was watching, so she only sobbed once; but to her surprise Vegeta took her in his arms and hugged her gently.

»This is my home, and I won´t let anyone mess it up.« he said. »I´ll do the best I can, and therefore I need to train. I go to the gravity room immediately. Trunks, you too.«

»Yes, I follow you in an instant… I only want to talk to my "grown up" daughter first, and to my sister and all the others.«

Bulma said: »Bulla, Kori, little Vegeta, Kaya, Merve, Gohan, and Goten are already in the training chamber. Videl, Valese, Shane, Urian, Satan and Chichi are at the space-crafts launch site, and supervise the loading. I will call them back… as soon as possible. And I made contact with Krillin and C 18, also with Marron and her family and with Majuub. I did not reach Tien Shinhan, but I am sure he knows what is going on and helps the people elsewhere. Yamcha also helps with the evacuations at his home town next to mount Paozu.«

Trunks told his mother: »Popo said that the Tsuyan is already here, and he started a strange "fight-to-death" match with the stronger animal species and a man and a woman… like a learning game, as if he wanted to get to know the earth. I think we should distract him from continuing with this game as soon as we can. I am afraid that such a strange behavior makes very bad rumor, and if the army of earth or some other "self made heroes" try to interfere, it might end even worse than if _we_ try to hold him up. At least… we are the closest to a family he might have. He has been constructed out of our cell material. That makes us somehow related. Or not?«

Bulma shook her head: »Interesting thoughts, Trunks. We need to discuss it with the others… lets say at an early evening meal… not too late, because Shane and Urian plan to start the first of the ships tonight. It is almost full with animals and plants – and some biologists and scientists that know how to treat those life-forms well.«

»Would you please come now, Trunks?« Vegeta asked again. »We haven´t had much time to train in the last two weeks. We need to catch up with that. I want to show this Tsuyan my best, every hour of training will be helpful.«

Bulma asked: »Why don´t you go to god´s palace to train? Now that you are all here, you could use a few hours of or time to get fit in this _Hyperbolic time chamber_. I remember that you once said, that one day outside gives you one year of training inside. A few hours should be enough, I think. Bulla was up there with Kori and the twins once for about six hours of our time, and they went there again when Goten and Gohan were back. Gohan stayed outside with his family, but Goten went in there together with them and Merve, for another six hours. I think I also recall that you said that everyone is only allowed to stay inside forty-eight hours of our time, but you all still should have some hours left… I think you did not need all time when you were training to fight Cell.«

Vegeta smiled: »Well, Bulma, you´ve always got good ideas! That's why I love you so much.« but he sighed and explained: »Unfortunately it is not only the forty-eight hour ban, that hinders us to go inside the Hyperbolic time chamber again. Everyone is allowed to spend in summa forty eight hours in there, but no one can enter more than two times. So we theoretically have a few hours left, but we have all been in there twice, except Merve, if my memory does not betray me. And it makes no sense if she goes in there alone.«

Bulma nodded: »You are right. They have all been there twice.«

Meanwhile, also the others had noticed that some visitors had arrived and all of them came running down the corridor. After a period of "welcomes" they decided fast, that they would go to the special training room in Bulma´s house for a few hours. They wanted to use this time to study the battle-strategy with Vegeta and Trunks. Immediately they went there, and dressed up in trainings-suits. The two new arrivals were really impressed; it was obvious that their family members and friends had had a lot of training in the past time. The twins looked older and really strong; Merve, Gotens daughter, also seemed to be well used to martial arts fights now. It was clearly visible that the children had been in the Hyperbolic time chamber for almost half a year – or twelve hours of earth time. Bulla and Kori were a good pair of fighters; they had trained many combined moves, and Goten and Gohan also were confident, that they had re-learnt a lot in the past time.

»We are stronger than we were when we met the Tsuyan for the first time.« Gohan said. »I think we can surprise him… and if we train to combine our battle moves with you, Vegeta, and with Trunks, we might be able to show him resistance. And if Piccolo really will come, he might be a surprise for the Tsuyan. This boy never met a Namekian Super Warrior.«

Vegeta said: »Then let us start the training, we must not lose more time with talking.«

Trunks interrupted: »Only one more thing: Also the Tsufurian mutant wants to help us. He says that he will try to construct a weapon that is especially aimed for the Tsuyan; some biological wave emitter, or a ray-gun. We might not need to kill him, but this could be another surprise for him. So please do not be surprised if the Tsufurian, who calls himself Furyon now, appears on earth. He is not the enemy and he promised to hold back with his special weapon, and will only interfere if there is no other chance.«

The people around nodded, and one after another left the changing room to go to the big training chamber.

Bulma said, before she parted: »The others and I will prepare a very big meal while you train. You´ll have about four hours, right?« She winked with one eye.

To the surprise of a really proud "grandfather" Vegeta, his grandchildren were able to fight really good, and they were also able to fly, even Merve, who had never before shown any interest in fight or flying, because she wanted to be a really normal girl, had improved her skills very much. Bulla and Kori were fighting as if they had done this for a long time and Vegeta hardly believed how strong his daughter Bulla had become. She could use Ki-based attacks as well as physical ones, and she did not back of although Kori did not show any mercy. Kori was three-quarter Saiyan and could take much more than the other woman, but she had no fun with fighting; she was peace-loving and would have preferred to live with her family in quietness. Nevertheless she knew now that also her uncle was an enemy of this Tsuyan, and that she had to stop him. Therefore she attacked her father Trunks and her grandfathers Vegeta and Gohan also with all her might and showed them what she had learned. This was the best they could do. No one else was able to fight for the earth now.

:-:

At the planet of the Kaioshin Dende and the Kaioshin were still separate beings. It needed a lot of preparation to make the Dragon Balls, and on top of that, they were all still hesitating to do it. Though the glass orb they could watch the earth and it did not look too bad, the Tsuyan was already there, but he had not started a big fight; it was as if he was tired of terminating worlds without taking a closer look at them.

Pan said: »If he really is that curious, they surely will use that somehow. They will think of all possibilities, I am sure of that. Maybe the new Dragon Balls won´t be needed. Maybe they can convince him to stop, maybe he will learn that peace is the better choice.«

»Maybe we do not need to destroy him. I would also prefer that.« Dende said, »But we should carry on with the preparations. There is still much to do and if we lose too much time in waiting, we might lose it all. Unfortunately I must say that I have a very bad feeling...«

»Yes.« Pan said. »How long can you stay fused?«

The Kaioshin answered: »As long as we wear the Potaras. Well, Dende, should we try it, or not? We have every ground substance for the Dragon Balls ready now, we could start to make them. I cannot say how long that will take.«

»Yes, lets risk it.« Dende took the left Potara, the Kaioshin had the right one, already on his ear. »I put it on now.« Dende said.

Within the flash of a second they were one person; and the fused "Denshin" really looked like a mix of both of them. He had a slightly green skin and small antennas from Dende, but the white hair and the general form of the Kaioshin. The voice of the united god was a mix of both of them. He smiled.

»What a strange feeling.« Denshin said. »I never thought that it would be like this. I have the united powers of the Kaioshin, of Kibito, and of Dende now. I am sure that I am powerful enough to make good Dragon Balls. But it still needs full concentration…«

»I will try not to disturb you.« Pan said. »I´ll prepare the space-ship, we need to leave the galaxy with it, and we do not know how long we will be out there.«

:-:

When they all came out of the training room, and the several showers, Chichi, Bulma, Videl and Valese, Shane, Satan, Krillin, C 18, Marron and her husband, Majuubs wife, and Urian had prepared a big amount of food for the lunch that they wanted to eat all together. In the garden there was a big, round table so that everyone could see everyone else whilst they were there. Soon all the fighters had changed their clothes and were also outside, and sat down. It was late afternoon and there was enough time until the first space-ship, with all the animals and plants of the western hemisphere, would depart.

Shane explained to Trunks and Vegeta: »Urian and I will need longer to Namek than the passenger ships, because our space-craft is a little bit slower. So it is very likely that the other space ships will be already there when we arrive. There is another life-boat for the species of the world at the eastern capital; a good colleague is driving it. We have also found good pilots for the other space ships. No one has to be afraid, they will be well-guided.«

Bulma continued and let her husband and son know: »Valese and Videl will fly with the first evacuation ship, the second evacuation ship will be steered by me and Chichi; and also Satan will come with us. Krillin, Majuub, we booked places for your families in the second ship. Please be sure that they there tomorrow morning. Eighteen, I know that you want to fight with us, but Marron said that she would prefere if you´d be with her…«

Bulma looked at Marron. The young woman whispered something in her mother´s ear and C 18 smiled and hugged her, she also looked to Marrons husband and smiled. Then she said: »Okay… I will come with you, Marron, and Krillin.«

In exactly this moment, Vegeta shook his head, jumped to his feet and looked into a far-distant direction. At first all the others startled, but then Gohan, Trunks and Goten, and also Majuub, sensed it. The others were not used enough to sense life-energies, but the reaction of the five men was enough.

Vegeta said: »He is approaching very fast.«

Bulma also jumped to her feet now: »Shane! Urian, hurry! Run to your ship and leave immediately… you must go!« She turned to the other ones who were going with the space ships: »Valese, Videl, Chichi, you too… Mr. Satan, inform the people that they have to come to the launch site immediately. The army of the king must help with the evacuation.«

Valese said to Shane: »Would you please take my little son with you? You can launch much earlier than my ship, and I must stay behind because I am the co-pilot of the second ship and I cannot leave the people behind. Videl needs me to assist her.«

Shane nodded: »Of course I will take little Goku with me. You will see him on Namek, or maybe we can make a rendezvous somewhere in the space, so that you´ll get him back earlier. Give him to me, we leave immediately. Urian, do you come?« He stood up.

Trunks shook his head: »I am sorry, but I don´t think that we´ll have enough time. You must hurry. The way to the launch site will last ten minutes by fly-car; and to get the ships finally ready will need even more time. Try your best to get away, and in the case of emergency skip the start-procedure. You´ve surely checked everything before.«

Majuub growled: »Then we have to buy as much time as we can give them. At least at the eastern capital and in the far north, and maybe in the south they could get all the space-crafts ready; it is far away, and probably the Tsuyan won´t reach them too early.«

»Yes.« Gohan said, and hugged his son for goodbye. »You take care, will you? You´ll be a great pilot.« He turned to his wife: »You will meet Pan, and our granddaughter, and you will be with Urian. Don´t cry too much for me; you will need your strength.«

There was not much time to say goodbye. Majuub warned them again, that the great power of the Tsuyan was approaching fast; and that he would be here within ten minutes if he would not slow down. He turned to his wife: »Leave with Shane, Valese and Videl, you are safer at the launch site. I love you. But go now. Take care of my mother, please.«

The dark-skinned woman nodded and followed Videl to the car.

Krillin said: »We will also go to the launch-site. We surely can help with the loading procedure. Surely we can guide the refugees to their seats as soon as they arrive. Marron, let us take your husband´s car. We will pick up his family on the way to the launch site. It is not far away.« They smiled at the others and left too.

The Tsuyan approached. And of course he did not slow down, he was eager to meet the Saiyans now.

About twenty minutes later he landed at the lawn behind Bulmas house. All the persons who were there to fight, were awaiting him, the others had left to be out of the way. Although Gohan and Goten had told them about the Tsuyan, those who had never met him before were surprised that he was such a young boy.

With an emotionless face the little Tsuyan looked at them. Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Bulla, Majuub, Kori, Merve and little Vegeta and Kaya. »So you are the persons who have Saiyan blood in their veins.« he said. »Let us see if you are a match for me. It is said that the Saiyans were the greatest warriors of the universe. I want to find out if this is true or not. I haven´t met anyone yet who was strong enough to resist me. Maybe you will be a little bit more interesting.«

Bulla proposed: »Why don´t you wait a little bit, and have something to eat? Aren´t you hungry? We´ve got a good meal over there.« She pointed at the big table. »We have different sorts of meat, vegetables, desserts, fruits, also fish… you may have never tried that before. Has ever before anyone cooked a meal for you? All the things that you see over there are hand-made, and they are still hot and good.«

Gohan also tried it: »We do not have to fight. Maybe you just need someone to talk?«

The Tsuyan shook his head: »I do not want to eat, I am not hungry. I´ve had a roasted tiger only two hours ago. And I definitely do not need to talk. This is not why I am here for. But if you need a reason to fight, then I will give you one.« he flew up in the air and charged. Massive energy circles were forming around his hands.

»You won´t do this!« Vegeta shouted and followed him, but he did not reach the Tsuyan in time. The Saiyan Prince could only detour one of the massive energy balls. The other one hit the launch site of the space ships exactly in the middle, and one of the big ships exploded almost instantly, the other two started to burn and got severely damaged.

»Is this enough to make you angry?« the Tsuyan asked. »I have heard that Saiyans have to be angry to fight really good.« he laughed.

Bulla, who had lost her husband at the explosion, flew next to the Tsuyan and cried: »There was no need to do this! You could have let them go! They were no match for you! You said that they do not interest you! Why did you kill them!«

»Out of the way, Bulla!« Vegeta yelled and shoved his daughter aside, when a massive ray of lightning was aimed at her. The flash hit Vegeta in the back and he was whacked out of the sky as if one hit with an immense flyswatter.

»Father!« Bulla roared and attacked the Tsuyan with her new learnt energy based attacks, but the boy did not show any mercy. He hit her with his mightiest blows and it was clear that she could not withstand him for more than a few seconds. Kori and Trunks rushed to help her, and Gohan held the twins back, who of course wanted to help their mother.

He said: »You are no match for him, I am sorry that I´ve to say that… but run. You two must run away… Your grandmother Bulma is still in the house, take her with you and go to the east coast to the space ships. Your time will come. Grow up, learn to use your strength, and some day, you will be able to fight him. But now it is better to save you. And you Merve, you must also go. Take care of your mother… she might have survived this disaster, because she left a few minutes later than Shane and Urian.«

»No!« little Vegeta cried. »I want to fight. I am a Saiyan! I will fight!«

In this moment, another beam of light mixed up with the other fighters. It was Piccolo´s special attack. The great Namekian fighter was back from hell and had attacked the Tsuyan immediately. It was a little bit unfair to strike without warning, but he said: »I am a demon back from hell, so… it does not really interest me if I act fair or not.« he laughed, and the new warrior seemed to be a real surprise for the Tsuyan, he looked curiously at Piccolo and tried to figure out who he was.

But the Tsuyan turned back to the fight fast. He showed no compassion or any other emotion. It was just that what he did – fighting; and he did not care whether he was fighting for the good, or the bad side. It was his wish to fight, so he did it. Bulla was hit by a massive Ki-Shot and fell from the sky, but Goten caught her. She was severely hurt and the twins hurried forward to be with their mother, but the Tsuyan did not leave them any time.

He said: »One after another. The first who attacks, is the first to die, the second that attacks me, is the second to die. I do not need you anymore, young blue haired woman.« he said, and released a massive burning light wave from his hands. It hit Bulla, who pushed Goten out of the way with all of her strength, right away and she was gone, whilst the others were hit down by the explosion. Dust and tears were in their eyes when they got up again.

»And now you.« The Tsuyan pointed at Trunks; and did not even seem to feel the attacks that the others launched at him in the meantime. »And then, you.« he looked at Kori.

Vegeta´s voice was there in the same second: »So you want to kill in a correct order… but you did not kill your first opponent. I am still here, and I won´t give up so easy. Fight me and stop hurting my children.« He looked terribly beaten; and his lower left leg was missing at the knee, he had bound his belt tight around his upper leg as a ligature, but the blood loss weakened him.

»And me.« The Tsufurian mutant said suddenly. He was next to Vegeta and supported the Saiyan Prince; he helped him flying. »I should have been your very first victim, months ago, and you did not kill me. This was a fault, because I know how to kill you. I know your weak side. And your weak side, is, that you are a living creature, just like we are. You are made of fused cell material, but your body is not artificial, and you have no special recovery power. This is why I made you so strong; so strong that no one might ever hurt you by violence, because you are not able to rebuild missing body parts, or to recover from severe wounds.« He raised a gun-like cannon with his free arm. »This will held you up.«

Never before there had been such an alliance; former enemies had joined sides to fight a new threat that was too big to face it alone.

»You?« the Tsuyan asked. »You tried to teach me but you are not stronger than a cockroach. You are not interesting me anymore. Go away or die here with the others. The Saiyans are also not really strong. They will soon be dead. All of them.« He fired an enormous Ki-Attack at the Tsufurian, but Vegeta was faster and let the energy wave ricochet.

Piccolo rushed closer and tried to get hold of the Tsuyan so that the rejected energy shock could hit the small boy, but the Namekian had no chance. As soon as he had touched the boy, he felt his strength drain away, and also Kori and Trunks, who were close by could feel the Aura of the Tsuyan that sucked all live energy up. The Tsuyan turned Piccolo in the direct shot-line of the energy attack, and the Namekian had to flee, otherwise he would have been pulverized. Nevertheless, the Tsuyan was distracted for a second, and had turned his back on Vegeta and Furyon.

The Tsufurian mutant fired his gun, and a reddish beam of light headed for the small Tsuyan boy at the right upper arm. The Tsuyan was surprised how fast this energy was, and could not avoid it by moving aside. It was obvious that he had never been hurt before, he cried out and could not believe it; the part of the muscle that had been hit seemed to melt away as if the cells would dissolve. It was only a graze shot, but it showed clearly that they had really a chance with this gun.

Vegeta, Gohan and Goten attacked in unison; and came Piccolo from behind again. Trunks and Kori approached the Tsuyan from both sides. The Ki-Attacks rushed at the boy who was still holding his hurt underarm. He was not crying, but deeply shocked because of this new experience. He was distracted and this was a chance. But it was all in vain.

:-:

Goku could not do anything. He had agreed to the deal to stay in hell as long as Piccolo was fighting – he gave his existence in the real world up for his Namekian friend. But Master Yemma was merciful, he had allowed him to watch the ongoing through the mirror of the dimensions. But right in that moment Goku wished that he would not have watched.

The Tsuyan screamed at top of his voice; he was angry and hurt, and his Aura-light suddenly some kind of turned around; he issued such a massive resistance that all the attacks were sent back and the strength of them was ten times worse than before.

Majuub was able to push little Vegeta, Kaya and Merve behind a thick wall of bricks, and shielded them with his body, but all the others were helpless. Everything around burnt away in an orange fireball; no one could escape. Glass, metal, even stone just melted away.

It was very unusual, but Vegeta must have been unconscious for a while. When his sight cleared up, he could not believe his eyes. There was nothing left except a crumpled desert of ashes and some parts of thicker walls, as far as he could see. His house was gone, the whole neighborhood, and the most of the Western Capital.

He could not sense the life energies of Trunks, Goten, Majuub and the Tsufurian anymore. Somewhere in the distance there must be Gohan, and next to him there was Kori; they must have been able to reach one of the massive sky-scrapers, and had taken shelter behind them. Piccolo was also there. The Namekian tried to get the three smaller children out under the crumpled heap of the wall; Majuub´s body was nowhere to be seen, but in his last moments he had dug a small shelter cave for the children. They were dusty and shocked, but physically almost unharmed.

Vegeta turned to a Super Saiyan and tried to fly again, to meet the Tsuyan, who was still in the air. The small boy looked still very healty, and the icy stare in his eyes had not changed. Without a pause it would go on. The Tsuyan rose his hand and prepared another attack. It was made of black light and absorbed every good or bad emotion around.

»Wait! Please!« Kaya, Vegetas young granddaughter, suddenly cried. Her voice was trembling, but she carried on. She knew that the children now had to buy some time for their relatives to recover. They must distract the Tsuyan, at least for a few minutes. So she asked: »Do you want to play hide and seek with us? I mean, with my brother, Merve and me? Have you ever played hide and seek?«

The Tsuyan answered: »I know hide and seek. Everyone always hid when I came.«

Little Vegeta yelled: »But have you ever been the one who had the chance to hide? This is the real fun in playing hide and seek. You must trick out the seeker.«

This seemed to puzzle the Tsuyan and he answered: »No… I never tried to hide. There was no need to do it. But it sounds interesting. Are there other rules?«

Merve said: »Everything explains itself, if we play. Do you want to try it? I will be the first seeker. I count to one-hundred, and you hide.«

The Tsuyan replied: »Maybe I should try it. It could be fun. We will play between the ruins of this city. I will let you three go. You can wait for me there. I will come to you when I am finished here. If I like your game, I will spare your lives. But the others here… are boring, and I do not like boring things.«

He charged again. »Saiyans! And you, Namekian, attack me all together. Maybe this is some new thing. I want to be challenged, and until now your attacks only teased me.«

Kori, Vegeta, Piccolo and Son Gohan encircled the Tsuyan. Gohan carried the weapon that the Tsufurian had brought with him; after all that thing had been the only thing that really had hurt the Tsuyan, and maybe there was a chance for another shot. He had cast a short look at the weapon; it was some kind of DNA-disruptor, especially made to harm only the genetic material in the cells of the Tsuyan; not anyone else. Without any doubt the Tsufurian was a great scientist, and he had maybe really found one of the only weapons that would work against the Tsuyan. If they would only have the chance to aim at him once more! Someone must distract the little boy, otherwise he would know what they were up to.

Vegeta nodded at him and also Piccolo was prepared. Vegeta and Piccolo would try to get the attention of the Tsuyan, and Gohan should shoot.

Kori yelled down to the children: »Run away and hide… you are the last hope.«

»Hm…« the Tsuyan replied, with a superior smile. »It is not of any use to send them away. I only decided not to kill them, because I do have the power to decide who will live or die. I want to play with them later, therefore I let them live. If I like the game, they might live on. But I do not care for you and the other grown-ups, and I am disappointed. I thought that you were stronger. The legends about the Saiyans are not true.«

»I am the Prince of all Saiyans and I will fight you until my last breath!« Vegeta yelled. »All together now…« he tried to send a telepathic message to Goku: »_Kakarott, we will lose. He is too strong. It is time for Plan B now_. _Let Pan know it somehow_.«

:-:

The united god Denshin shook his head: »It is too early! I still need to make two Dragon Balls, and they are terribly beaten…«

Pan stared back at him, and her face was white of shock: »What do you say? They are beaten? What does that mean?«

Denshin turned around to her and said: »I can only sense the life energy of little Vegeta, Merve and Kaya now, and that of the older Kori. Vegeta´s Aura faded away a few minutes ago. They are all hurt, and Piccolo even risked his existence in both worlds. Master Yemma called him back just one moment before he vanished. Goku is back with Popo now, but they cannot do much.« He tried to smile but then he turned around again: »I need to concentrate on the Dragon Balls now, Pan, I am sorry.«

Pan nodded and sat down, hugging her baby. »There will be no one left from my family except you…« The baby Kori looked back at her, but she was still too young to understand what was going on. »Denshin, we will wait in the ship.«

The united god did not reply, he was busy with some mystic light in front of him, and the already ready Dragon Balls were covered with a black cloth. And suddenly a loudless flash of light issued from under that dark piece of cloth and the seven Dragon Balls started to fly in a small circle in the air.

»Please don´t scatter yourself.« Denshin some sort of prayed, and the Dragon Balls seemed to understand. Maybe they were also different from all that had been here before. They were blue instead of orange and the Stars inside had also blue color.

Denshin put the Dragon Balls at a golden tray, and placed the figure of the Dragon in the middle. Cautiously he carried them to the ship, and normally he could have been happy that he successfully made those mighty Dragon Balls. But he looked like as if he was close to cry. When he had placed the tray at the table in the living room, he sat down and sighed.

»Pan, earth is gone.« he said. »None of the ships could escape and the Tsuyan is at the way to Namek now. He is interested how strong the other Namekians can fight, now that he knows Piccolo.«

»What?« she asked. »Earth is gone? Do you know how it happened?«

Denshin nodded: »Yes. The Tsuyan really _wanted_ to play with little Vegeta, Merve and Kaya, who were so brave to distract him, although their parents and family members died a short time before… But a gone-crazy earthling shot at little Vegeta without warning, and the boy got severely hurt. This was the moment when the Tsuyan really freaked out. Maybe he liked the children somehow, because they were about his age or… maybe they were the only ones that ever wanted to play with him.«

»And the girls?« Pan asked. »Kaya and Merve?«

»I do not know what happened to them.«

Pan shook her head and placed her baby in the bed. »Then we will do it. We cannot stop him otherwise.« She took two of the Dark Heart Dragon Balls, the "three" and the "five"

They seemed to know what she was up to and started to heat themselves up. Pan did not hesitate anymore, and smashed the two Dragon Balls together with all the power that she had. Both of them cracked like the shells of eggs and it was as if they wailed a silent scream, while small pieces of them fell down. The other five Dark Heart Dragon Balls seemed to explode inside, the currently moving inner spheres collapsed in flashes of light, and then all seven went dim, and out, and were nothing more than round, grayish-green stones, two of them half broken, of course.

And at the same moment everything changed. Denshin looked out of the window. It was as dark as it had never been before, even at the planet of the Kaioshin. All suns and stars of the galaxy had lost their light. It hurt him to feel the galaxy dying, but he could not concentrate on this. »Pan, take Kori in your arms, and hold on to my shoulder. I will try to teleport us to the Planet of the Kaioshin of the neighbor-galaxy, and I am not sure that I can teleport the whole ship that far. We need to leave this one.« He closed his eyes. »There I can feel his Aura. He´s awaiting us.« He took the tray with the bluish Dragon Balls in his left hand and within an instant they were gone. Fortunately the space-ship went with them.

Pan did not feel much better, when they arrived at the Holy Planet of the Kaioshin of the next galaxy. She knew that everyone that she knew was dead; except the Kaioshin of her galaxy and Dende, but they were also one person now.

They stepped outside in the yellowish and lilac world of the Kaioshin of the Glunn-galaxy, because they did not want to stay inside the ship any longer. It was like a prison, and nevertheless the only thing that was left from old earth.

Immediately the god of this galaxy was with them. He looked a little bit different to the Kaioshin that Pan knew; he had yellowish skin, great round ears like a mouse and green eyes, but about the same clothes on: »Be welcomed here.« he said. »But tell me why you are here. I sense a very great disturbance in the universe – and your own worlds are dying, Kaioshin of the Milky Way galaxy.«

Denshin said: »Yes I know. I will explain it to you, because it needs time to die completely… let us sit down. I am a little bit exhausted.« They took place in the yellow grass and Denshin started to explain everything he knew to his colleague; sometimes Pan added a thing, but most times she was silent. The great sadness weighed her down, and while Denshin was talking, she sometimes felt tears in her eyes.

The Kaioshin of the Glunn-galaxy gave Pan a big hug and told her: »I will also try to help you; maybe my strength can support the Dragon. I have never heard of such a thing like the Dragon Balls, because we do not have Namekians in our galaxy, but in the name of all life forms that dwell there I thank you for stopping this creature. Sooner or later this Tsuyan might have been so strong to endanger my galaxy too… and maybe we wouldn´t have found a way to stop him. I do not know the person that had this idea, but after all, he might be the saver of us all. Tell him thank you from me, when you see him again. But… wait a moment. I think the end of your galaxy is near. Let us look into my pond of vision, we will see it there.«

On his planet, he had a small blue lake, and now that he stepped at the shore, the picture changed. They could see the gigantic black hole that sucked up the last remnants of the galaxy. All the other galaxies were far away enough not to be harmed, but the old Milky Way galaxy was dying very fast now. It was more than unlikely that anyone could ever escape this destruction. And with a big last flash of greenish light it was over.

»The black hole also crumpled and disappeared.« The highest god of the Glunn-galaxy said. »This could not have been a naturally born black hole, because they hardly ever collapse. Nevertheless, there is nothing left in this place of the space.«

Denshin was shocked to see that his galaxy and all the lives had disappeared, and he said: »Yes. I can feel it too and it is very strange. Without a galaxy there is no Kaioshin, and no god for one of the planets. I am afraid that this will have an effect on me. Pan, you must not wait any longer. Tell the Dragon Balls your whish.«

Pan nodded, and gave the baby to Denshin, whilst she hurried to get the Dragon Balls out of the ship. She placed the golden tray at the floor. Then she hesitated: »I am a little bit afraid. This wish is so big… what shall I say? What if I forget something?«

Denshin said: »I am sure you will find the right words. Call Shenron now.« He gave the baby back to her, so that he would have his hands free.

Pan took a deep breath and said at loud voice: »Shenron! Please come!«

The Dragon Balls started to glow in a nice, light blue light, the sky went dark and the body of an enormous dragon appeared. He was so huge that it seemed as if he was coiled all around the planet of the Kaioshin, and the tip of his tale was still connected with the Dragon Balls. His scales were sky-blue at the back and slightly greenish at the belly, and the eyes glowed in a violent bright blue. He said: »I am a newborn Holy Dragon, and I thank you for giving me the chance to exist. I will grant you one wish, never mind how big it is. But only one, and it will be the only wish I ever grant. Choose your words well.«

Pan said: »Shenron, please restore the Milky Way galaxy that was destroyed only a few minutes ago. Bring back all the stars and the planets, the moons and the comets, and all the lives on the planets and moons that had been wiped out by the hands of the Tsuyan. Bring back all people on earth that died while fighting the Tsuyan, and all the people of the other destroyed or devastated planets, except the really bad ones and the Tsuyan. I beg you… and I hope that you can do this.«

Shenron answered: »This is a really big wish and I try my best. But I need time.«

The Kaioshin of the Glunn-galaxy said: »I will ask all the live-forms of my galaxy to borrow you a little bit of their energy.«

»Thank you. I will need it.« Shenron said and closed his eyes.

Hours passed, and the Holy Dragon was still in the sky and busy with work. Meanwhile the Kaioshin of the Glunn-galaxy and Denshin had talked about business that only Kaioshins were allowed to know and Pan had spent the time with her daughter. Everyone needed some distraction from the ongoing, because the lake that showed the part of the universe where the Milky Way should be was still dark and empty.

But then the Holy Dragon suddenly said: »I am ready, and now I will go to rest again.« He disappeared fast, and the seven Dragon Balls scattered themselves within an instant, flying high up in the sky, and away. The sky was bright again.

All three of them looked in the lake and could see the whole new galaxy there. Pan cheered and had tears in her eyes, she hugged the surprised Denshin and also the Kaioshin of the Glunn-galaxy.

Denshin said: »I think I will separate again in Dende and Kaioshin, so that the Dragon Balls turn into stone forever. I do not want to risk that anyone else uses them.« So he took off one of his Potaras and the split of a second later they were themselves again.

The other Kaioshin said: »Oh, that is how the god of the Milky Way galaxy really looks like. Well, it was nice to have you here, on my planet. If you want you can come again, whenever you like. But I think your greatest desire is to go home now. Take this little amount of energy, Kaioshin, so that you can teleport this little lady and the Namekian directly to their home planet.« he touched the other one at the shoulder, and smiled.

»Thank you.« the white-haired Kaioshin said. »I will surely visit you once again.«

Pan urged: »Let us go… I need to know if everything is ok.«

The three went back to the ship and as soon as they were on board, the Kaioshin zapped them directly to god´s palace, that was hovering above the earth.

Pan whispered: »Oh, we should have had the help of a Kaioshin all the time. We would have been much faster. But I know. We have to take responsibility of our own. You cannot always play the babysitter for us.«

Kaioshin smiled and said: »You are right. But I am always happy to meet you. And without that great idea, my galaxy would have died slowly – now all is new. I have to get used to this feeling, but it is good…«

When they opened the door, they saw at first Popo and Goku. Dende hurried outside with the figure of the dragon and greeted both of them, before he started to tell Popo an abridged version of their adventures.

Goku approached Pan and the Kaioshin. He still had a halo, so he had not been revived. »This is not possible.« he said. »And now that our journey is over, I will have to go again. But don´t be too worried, Pan, it is ok, and I still have a little bit of time.«

Pan asked: »Can you remember what happened here?«

»No.« Goku replied. »I saw the fight but my memory ends when it went dark. But it must have ended good, otherwise we won´t be here. You did it, right? You destroyed the Dark Heart Dragon Balls.«

Pan nodded, but then she was distracted, because the Kaioshin said: »They are all heading this way. Soon they will be here.«

Pan asked, full of hope: »Everyone is ok? And the earth is fully restored?«

Dende closed his eyes and tried to concentrate for a while, then he explained: »It is different than before. All people, plants and animals except the really bad ones are back, and the earth is fully restored. But the buildings and machines that were damaged have not been restored, because they can be rebuilt by the humans themselves.«

Kaioshin suddenly said: »There they are. I sense that the little boy is hurt.«

Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, Bulla, Trunks, Kaya, Merve, Eighteen, and the Tsufurian landed on gods palace, also Piccolo and Majuub were there. Vegeta carried his grandson who was bleeding from a wound at his shoulder, and Dende hurried closer to heal him. Their clothes had not been restored and had still big rips and holes in them, and were blood-stained or heavily burnt at many parts. The fight must have been really hard.

»Yes, I remember.« Pan said. »Little Vegeta had been hurt by another one than the Tsuyan. Therefore he was not included in my wish… I am sorry.«

Trunks embraced her and said: »I am so happy that you decided to do it. I cannot remember a thing, only the fight and a great flash of light. I must have died earlier.«

Pan asked: »Where is Kori? I never saw her grown up. Hasn´t she been with you?«

Vegeta said: »Oh, yes, she was with us, but she parted when we noticed that you really destroyed the Dragon Balls. The Tsuyan noticed somehow what was happening, and tried to save himself by Instant Transmission. Kori went to hold him up, because she was the only one that could still fight. In the end she was so angry that she was at Super-Saiyan-Three-level, and she really could hold him back from getting in his ship at the right time. But I do not know why she is not here now.«

Gohan said: »I think I know why. She does not belong to this universe. Her timeline is completely different, and her life cannot be restored in this universe. Because she is already here.« He pointed at the little baby that was sleeping in Pan´s arms.

They all shared a moment in silence, because in the past time they had become really fond of the grown up Kori; but the same time they knew that she was not lost; and that they would have a lot longer time to spend with her, and that they would see her growing up surrounded by the family.

»Oh, family!« Goten said. »I´ll go and search for the others, and bring them here. I am sure that we can make a big feast here in Dende´s palace, so that dad is allowed to take part too. Trunks, Gohan, would you help me? If we take a big plane, we can bring them here all at once. I am sure that they want to celebrate with us.«

»Of course.« the two men answered.

Popo said: »I will prepare good food and drink for you.«

Pan offered: »Of course I will help you. I can´t wait to see them all again.«

Trunks kissed his little daughter goodbye, then he handed her back to Pan and said: »We´ll be back soon.« Then he jumped in the air, and headed for the Western Capital. Gohan and Goten followed him.

The others stayed at gods palace and started the preparations for the party.

Pan asked the Tsufurian: »What do you want to do now? Any plans?«

»Yes. I will go back to Thaioshti to help them to recover from the enslavement. Now that we do not need the space-ships of the tribe anymore, I can use the parts to build more helpful machines for them. I think, this is the place where I can really be useful.«

»A good idea.« Goku said. »Settle down and find your peace… This is what I hope for all of us. We need a peaceful future.«

All of them were the same opinion. This time all had ended well, and the future was waiting for them.


End file.
